South Korea are set to take on Palestine at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Thursday in matchday one of the third round of Asian World Cup qualifiers.
The hosts entered this round after topping their second-round group, while the visitors narrowly progressed through in second place of their group.
Match preview
© Imago
South Korea will be looking to qualify for their 11th successive FIFA World Cup tournament when they kick off their third round of Asian qualifiers against Palestine on Thursday.
The last time they failed to qualify for the World Cup was 1982, and since then they have exited at the group stage in seven of the following tournaments, exited at the round of 16 twice, and fantastically placed fourth in 2002 when they co-hosted the tournament with Japan.
Former manager Jurgen Klinsmann, who took over from Paulo Bento at the end of the 2022 World Cup, had a difficult time in charge of South Korea and was ultimately sacked after a highly disappointing AFC Asian Cup semifinal exit to Jordan.
Hong Myong-Bo was eventually hired five months after Klinsmann's dismissal, and the new boss will be preparing for his first game in charge when they take on Palestine.
Myong-Bo's side have a favourable group in their Asian World Cup qualifiers, competing with Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Palestine, and will be expected to comfortably finish in the top two and directly qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
South Korea will also be expected to comprehensively beat Palestine on Thursday, a side that only narrowly progressed into this stage for the first time in their history after finishing two points above Lebanon to place in second.
Makram Daboub, who has been in charge of the team since May 2021, will already be incredibly pleased with his history-making Palestine side, and he will be hoping they can create more history by qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in their history.
The visitors were significantly beaten 5-0 by Australia in their last outing, a result that they will be looking to avoid against a similarly strong South Korea team.
Team News
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As this marks Myong-Bo's debut as head coach of the South Korean national team, the selection for his first starting lineup remains rather unpredictable.
Talisman Heung-min Son is almost certain to start in a strong attacking three alongside Hee-Chan Hwang and Kang-in Lee, while Kim Min-jae is likely to feature in defence.
As for Palestine, a heavy 5-0 defeat to Australia in their last game extended their run without a win to two games, and Daboub might choose to revert to the team that last won a match against Bangladesh.
Oday Dabbagh is undoubtedly the star of the Palestine team, and the striker is expected to keep his place in the team and lead the line against South Korea.
South Korea possible starting lineup:
Jo; Moon-hwan Kim, Kim Min-jae, Young-Gwon Kim, Jin-su Kim; In-Beom Hwang, Paik, Jae-sung Lee; Kang-in Lee, Hee-Chan Hwang, Son
Palestine possible starting lineup:
Hamada; Battat, Termanini, Mahajna, Khalil; Kharoub, Rashid, Warda; Qumbor, Dabbagh, Qunbar
We say: South Korea 4-0 Palestine
South Korea will be strong favourites for a victory in this game due to possessing much more quality in their squad, and we predict this one to be a comfortable win for the hosts.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
Iran
Kyrgyzstan
North Korea
Qatar
UAE
Uzbekistan
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Oman
Palestine
South Korea
Australia
Bahrain
China
Indonesia
Japan
Saudi Arabia
