South Korea World Cup 2018

South Korea World Cup 2018

The most successful Asian Football Confederation team in World Cup history continue their love affair with the tournament, although they face perhaps the toughest draw they could have been given and will do well to pick up a single point.

History at the World Cup

Logo 2 South KoreaSouth Korea are the most successful team from the Asian Football Confederation in World Cup history. They have appeared at a total of nine World Cup finals tournaments, with Russia being their tenth. This will be their ninth consecutive finals appearance, with them qualifying for every one since 1986. It took them a while to make their mark in the World Cup, going five finals appearances without winning a match. That changed in 2002 though, when the co-hosts made it all the way through to the Semi Final and finished fourth overall.

South Korea Team
South Korea Team / Alizada Studios / Shutterstock.com

Having finished above the United States, Portugal, and Poland in the group stage, they then went on to beat Italy after extra time, and Spain via a penalty shoot-out, before losing 1-0 to Germany in the last four. That monumental achievement makes them the only Asian team to ever reach the Semi Final of a World Cup. Since then, they have reached the last 16 once and exited at the group stage twice.

  • World Cup Finals Appearances – 9
  • Previous Best Performance – Fourth Place

How South Korea qualified

In the first group stage of the Asian Football Confederation qualifying process, which was the second round overall, South Korea breezed through by winning all eight of their matches and not conceding a goal. The next stage was much tougher for them though, in a group with Iran, Syria, Uzbekistan, China, and Qatar.

They struggled at times, losing to Iran, China, and Qatar whilst also drawing three of their matches. Four wins from the ten games proved to be enough to secure them second place in the group, despite winning just one of their last five, and that was enough to book their place in Russia. In the other group, their points total would have only been enough for a fourth placed finish and that would have meant elimination.

Coach/Manager

Shin Tae-Yong, who made twenty-three appearances for the national team as a player, became the head coach in June 2017. This followed Uli Stielike’s sacking following the World Cup qualifying loss to Qatar.

Tae-Yong then took charge for the final two qualifiers, which ended with South Korea qualifying for the finals tournament despite goalless draws against both Iran and Uzbekistan.

Since those two draws, Tae-Yong has led them to three wins, two draws, and two defeats. So, overall, his record as South Korea manager is three wins, four draws, and two defeats from nine matches.

This isn’t including a brief spell as caretaker manager in 2014.

The head coach is relatively inexperienced and will be leading his country to the World Cup finals for the first time, so it’s a daunting prospect for him and indeed the entire nation.

South Korea Star Players

The majority of the South Korea squad will be unknown to the rest of the world, but there are a few faces which will be familiar to English football fans.

Lee Chung-Yong has been a Crystal Palace player since 2015, Ki Sung-Yeung has been at Swansea City since 2012, and the most well-known is Son Heung-Min, who has made over 100 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur.

South Korea World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances & Odds

South Korea have been handed a devilishly difficult group, alongside world champions Germany, Mexico, and Sweden.

The bookmakers do not rate their chances, with Ladbrokes offering odds of 2/7 for them to finish outside the top two and 14/1 for them to win the group.

It’s difficult to use head to head statistics to rate their chances, as most previous meetings with the other three teams were several years ago. A 4-0 friendly defeat to Mexico in 2014 is the only match against any of their group opposition in over ten years.

So, we must look at recent form and FIFA rankings to base our predictions on. This, unfortunately, leads us to believe that South Korea will finish bottom of their group without a win in the tournament.

Our South Korea World Cup Prediction

South Korea have several players who can cause other teams problems, but they lack depth throughout the squad. They have been handed as tough a draw as they could have feared, and they look miles behind the other three teams in terms of quality. We believe they will give it everything they have but, ultimately, we cannot see them finishing anywhere other than bottom of their group.