South Korea’s Chances in the Russia 2018 World Cup
Only a day away from the 2018 FIFA World Cup! If you are a casual soccer fan that tends to only watch soccer every four years, you may be wondering, What are Korea’s chances to moving on to the next round? Let me break it down for you with a short, but sweet analysis of South Korea’s chances in Group F.
[If you don’t feel like reading some thoughtful, enlightening information, just scroll to the last paragraph]
Lets start with getting to know the Group.
Group F:
(FIFA rankings aren’t the most accurate ranking system, but they have some merit)
Germany — FIFA Ranking: 1 (GG all)
Mexico — FIFA Ranking: 15
Sweden — FIFA Ranking: 24
South Korea — FIFA Ranking : 57 (there’s a lot of countries in the world, but countries after rank 50 are just different variations of trash. Basically 51–100 = rubbish, 101–150 = utter garbage, 151–200 = porta potty waste tank, everything after 200 = not even God can help you)
As you may know (I hope), only two teams per group can move on to the next round. Spoiler Alert: Germany will take the number one spot period. Which means, group F is a battle between Mexico, Sweden, and South Korea for the second place spot. Now let’s take a look at Mexico and Sweden.
Mexico:
They are a strong offensive team that can move the ball around quickly. With Chicharito, Hirving Lozano, Carlos Vela and Raul Jimenez in the squad, scoring shouldn’t be an issue. Yet, it is an issue, as many of the key offensive players for Mexico have not been able to produce goals consistently for club or country. Basically the story for Mexico is whether or not their offense can live up to expectations and whether or not their back line is good enough to hold off teams with decent offense.
Sweden:
Sweden is a very defensive team with tall players and a very organized system. They are comfortable with scoring one goal and then going the rest of the game just defending their own goal. Sweden has two main offensive threats: Emil Forsberg and Ola Toivonen. Basically if a team is able to nullify these two players, Sweden = no danger.
South Korea
Yes, Korea is the weakest overall team in the group. The back line is a mess and the midfield is nothing special. However, their attack is one department where they may have the edge over Sweden and Mexico. The offensive line consists of Hwang Heechan, Son Heungmin, Lee Jaesung, and Lee Seungwoo. Combined, the three players Son, Hwang, and Lee Jaesung have a total of 39 goals and 20 assists for their respective clubs this season. Lee Seungwoo on the other hand has only produced 1 goal, but at 20 years old, the ex Barcelona man is the player with the most untapped potential and has already proven to be a huge asset for this Korea team.
Korea’s Chances:
Should we as fans have hope that South Korea will make it out of the group stage of this World Cup? Unfortunately the answer is no. Looking at quality alone, Korea is the team most likely to place last in the group. HOWEVER, because everyone in the group sees Korea as the weakest team, they will be playing Korea with the intentions of securing 3 points(win = 3 points, draw = 1 points, loss = 0 points), thus risking more for a win. This means Sweden, a normally defensive team will be looking to attack which could create openings in their defense that normally would not exist. With Mexico, it comes down to execution. Can their forwards score and can their defense stop a very fast Korean offense? So there is some hope, just not a whole lot. Basically my advise would be to enjoy this world cup. Look at Korea as the team it is now and not the team it was back in 2002 and you will be able to enjoy each game without the stress of expectations.
***And here’s a link below to a training video showing a small glimpse of the hard work that goes into a world cup!***
