2018 World Cup Odds and Prediction: South Korea Team Betting Preview

No Asian country has made more World Cup appearances than South Korea’s nine but the Taeguk Warriors hobbled through qualifications and arrive in Russia with the third worst FIFA world ranking among the 32 competing countries.

2018 South Korea World Cup Odds

Odds to advance to knockout stages: +350

Odds to win the World Cup: +54,900

Number of World Cup wins: 5

FIFA world ranking: No. 57

Manager: Shin Tae-Yong

Captain: Ki Sung-Yueng

South Korea Players to Watch

Bettors should expect to see lots of camera close ups on Son Heung-min. The 25-year-old forward scored 39 goals in 99 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur over the last two years. He’s fleet footed and has great positional awareness. He’s by far South Korea’s best player and extremely effective on counter attacks.

South Korea World Cup Formation and Projected Starting 11

New manager Shin Tae-Yong has experimented with a back three, but the 4-4-2 is the default formation for South Korea. Kim Seung-Gyu is the starting keeper at J-League club Vissel Kobe and he’ll be the last line of defence for South Korea in Russia.

Kim Jin-Su, Kwon Kyong-Won, Jang Hyun-Soo and Lee Yong will form the four-man backline in front of Seung-Gyu, but they’re a battered group that allowed three goals against Qatar, four to Russia and three to Poland all in the last 12 months.

Swansea City’s Ki Sung-yueng anchors the midfield for the Taeguk Warriors and former Borussia Dortmund squad player Park Joo-ho will pair up in the middle of the park with Sung-yueng. Lee Jae-sung and Jung Woo-young are pegged to take up the wide positions in the midfield.

Son Heung-min plays up front with Kim Shin-Wook projected to be his striking partner.

South Korea Strengths

There isn’t a great depth of talent on this squad but Ki Sung-yueng and Park Joo-ho are good enough not to get overrun in midfield. South Korea should be able to hold its own in the centre of the park and maybe even engineer a few scoring chances off what would normally be a harmless turnover of possession.

South Korea Weaknesses

The backline lacks speed and positional know-how. The group has made a habit of making a mess out of early ball crosses and flicks into the box that more experienced squads would easily clear away from danger.

South Korea News

Lee Chung-yong was a surprise omission from the final 23-man squad for South Korea. Chung-yung made only six league appearances for Crystal Palace last season but started every match for his country at the 2014 World Cup and made the squad for South Africa in 2010 too.

South Korea Betting Predictions

South Korea shocked everyone in 2002 and finished in fourth place at the World Cup. Of course that team was managed by Guus Hiddink and South Korea was co-hosting the tournament with Japan. Aaaaand it still took Portugal getting two men sent off in the final group match to push the Taeguk Warriors into the knockout stages for the first time ever.

This is not the same squad and the magic of 2002 isn’t present. Getting out of the group is a longshot not even worth a fiver for underdog bettors. They could give Sweden a handful but Mexico and Germany are likely to thump the fourth place finishers at the 2002 World Cup.

Taking the over in goals against for South Korea might be the best way to wager on them in the group stage. They play their first match in the tournament on Monday June 18 against Sweden and the draw is paying +221 at Sports Interaction.