This is South Korea’s seventh consecutive appearance in the World Cup. In the last competition the team reached the Round of 16, its best result was finishing in fourth place in the 2002 tournament. This year the team should make it out of the group stage as Group H doesn’t have too many tough opponents. The team is well experienced on the international stage and should put up a good show this summer.
Style
South Korea is well known for its tireless work rate and defensive persistence. Coach Hong Myung-Bo tends to play the team in 4-2-3-1 formation which suites both of these characteristics. Numerous players in the team play in European leagues and bring a wide range of styles with them. Heung-Min Son is a forward for Bayer Leverkusen and brings an element of creativity to that aspect of the team.
Strengths
South Korea is good at scoring from long balls, in qualifying one in five of their goals were scored this way. They also created a large amount of scoring opportunities from the left wing. The team is also competent at shooting from close range and retaining possession of the ball.
Weaknesses
South Korea is the second lowest ranked team in the tournament. It conceded 64% of its goals from the flanks and no finalist conceded a larger proportion of goals in the opening quarter of an hour of matches. The team is also poor at defending set pieces. Furthermore, South Korea is lacking any talented strikers which could translate into a problem scoring goals.
World Cup Group Stage
- Russia vs Korea Republic – Tuesday, 17 June 2014, Match Preview
- Korea Rupublic vs Algeria – Sunday, 22 June 2014, Match Preview
- Korea Republic vs Belgium – Thursday, 26 June 2014, Match Preview
