Sports Mole: South Korea vs Iran WCQ [Preview]

Sports Mole – SEOUL, South Korea will welcome Iran to the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Thursday in their latest qualification group for the 2022 tournament that is taking place in Qatar.

Both teams have already officially qualified to be involved in the competition, but with just two points between them, this could be a crucial match in determining who finishes top.

South Korea have the opportunity to leapfrog their opponents in Group A this Thursday with a victory, which would set them up perfectly heading into the final qualification game next week.

However, to do that they would have to defeat Iran for the first time since 2011, with the two teams battling out a draw in the revere fixture.

Son Heung-min had given his team the lead in that match, only for Alireza Jahanbakhsh to equalise with just 15 minutes to go, and this time Paulo Bento’s men will be hoping to go one better.

Since that point, South Korea have won their following six international matches, and they have done so in impressive fashion, scoring 21 goals while conceding just one.

That is a record they would like to take into this particular fixture, with their last outing being a dominant 2-0 win over Syria, which has brought plenty of confidence to the group.

On the flip side, the visitors are also not short of belief, as the only time they have dropped points in this group stage was against South Korea, and even that was a draw.

The squad have the opportunity to finish undefeated, which would provide plenty of momentum heading into the World Cup at the end of this year, which they will be hoping to have.

A victory would guarantee them top spot, providing bragging rights coming out of this, and after three consecutive clean sheets, they have proven their defensive capabilities.

Dragan Skocic witnessed his team win both of their winter matches 1-0, against Iraq and United Arab Emirates, so he will be hoping for more attacking flair as he looks to fine-tune his squad.

While Iran have already guaranteed their place in Qatar, the players still have to fight for their positions if they want to be at the World Cup, giving them plenty to achieve in this match.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still proving to cause issues for South Korea heading into this one as several players have had to withdraw, as Jung Woo-young, Na Sang-ho and Paik Seung-ho all testing positive.

However, while that is a disappointment for the team, it does provide opportunities for Nam Tae-hee, Cho Young-wook and Won Du-Jae to try and prove themselves across the next two games.

Iran are also missing players because of the same issue, which includes two of their strongest attacking options with Jahanbakhsh and Mehdi Taremi being out of action.

Saman Ghoddos has also had to withdraw due to the virus, which stretches the options even further, while Sadegh Moharrami is suspended after being sent off in their previous outing.

South Korea possible starting lineup:
S. Kim; T. Kim, M. KIM, Y. Kim, J. Kim; Lee, Hwang, Kun-Hee, Jeong; J. Heung-min, Cho

Iran possible starting lineup:
Abedzadeh; Mohammadi, Noorafkan, Kanaanizadegan, Khalilzadeh; Sarlak, Amiri, Nourollahi; Gholizadeh, Azmoun, Ansarifard

Prediction:

South Korea 0-1 Iran

This is bound to be a closely contested match between the two most dominant teams in the group, with each aspiring to finish as the winners to gain as much momentum as possible.

While South Korea do have the advantage of being at home, they typically struggle against Iran, who are in fine form, and that should lead to an away win by small margins.