Korea Republic

Although Korea’s qualification was not an easy run, the nation is getting their hopes high for the World Cup and are looking forward to maintain the status of the most successful Asian team in the tournament.

Connecting successes

The new generation of Korean players has its own defining moment. In 2002, Koreans had the World Cup in home soil, in which they’ve finished fourth. Ten years later, they’ve returned home from the London 2012 Olympics with a bronze medal. What connects those two sides, is the coach Hong Myong-bo, who was a sweeper of the 2002 team, and then led the U-23s in London as a coach.

He was appointed the head coach of the national team before the qualifying and started to do some work, changing and shuffling the team constantly. He won just once in his first seven games, struggling to find the right formula.

Despite losing 0-2 to Brazil, the fans and journalists discovered, that they might see a birth of something special. Then, Koreans defeated Mali 3-1 and managed to win against Switzerland 2-1.

German and English core

The backbone of this team consists now of players who are recognised in Europe. Myong-bo decided to give the captain’s armband to Lee Chungyong, who is a hardened midfielder of Bolton Wanderers. Also playing in England, Ki Sung-yeung is in top form for Sunderland.

He is an interesting case. He made his name in the Premier League by playing in a possession based team that is Swansea City. He showed great technique and vision to flourish in midfield but was also given a chance to play as a centre back. He then was loaned to Sunderland, a team fighting for survival in the top flight, which usually means that it’s playing a counterattacking, defensive brand of football. And with the Wearside team – that was the case.

Upfront Korea has a real dangerman – Son Heung-min, who had a splendid season in Bayer Leverkusen, showing pace a trickery. He normally plays on the left and cuts inside to shoot from his right foot. He scored 10 times this season.

From Bundesliga, there’s also a Mainz duo – Park Joo-hoo and Koo Ja-cheol. The former is a defensive player and the latter more of a central midfielder. And also Augsburg’s Hong Jeong-ho, who is the most recognised player from the Korean defence.

Playing style

Myong-bo tinkered with formations and philosophies but it looks like he has found the right ones after his win against Switzerland, in which Korea was a possession based team that flourished in positional play.

Coach

His biggest achievement is winning the bronze medal at the Olympics but he did not stop there and worked under former Korea coach Guus Hidding in Anji Makhachkala. He is a motivational type of coach and instills respect for the game in his players.

Schedule and BETEGY predictions

17th June, Cuiaba: vs. Russia (1-2)

22nd June, Porto Alegre: vs. Algeria (1-0)

26th June, Sao Paulo: vs. Belgium (1-2)

Korea might advance into the knockout stages but they have just 44% chance of doing that compared to 72% of both Belgium and Russia. Their first game will be crucial. If they defeat Russia and expectedly crush Algeria, they should consider it a job done.