The Korean national soccer team will have a showdown with Saudi Arabia in the round of 16 strongest teams at the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup. In the FIFA rankings, Korea ranks 23rd and Saudi Arabia ranks 56th. Analysts say that Korea is also superior in terms of players’ objective performance and capability. Considering Korea’s performance in the past group league, however, it is difficult to be confident in winning the match. The same applies to foreign media. Some media even forecast Korea’s defeat.
CBS Sports predicted South Korea’s 0-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia, predicting the round of 16 match between Korea and Saudi Arabia at 1 a.m. on the 31st (Korea time) at Education City Stadium in Alayyan, Qatar. Although South Korea has a clear advantage over Saudi Arabia in recent past matches, and has not lost a point in four consecutive games against Saudi Arabia, there is a difference in recent performance.
CBS Sports predicted a 1-0 victory for Saudi Arabia, saying, “While South Korea is showing signs of instability in this tournament, Saudi Arabia is solid and not an easy opponent to beat. Although it is hard to predict Saudi Arabia’s multiple points led by Roberto Mancini, it would not be surprising to beat Jürgen Klinsmann’s (Germany) Korea by a small margin.”
Media predicts that the performance shown in the last group stage will ultimately determine the joy and sorrow of the round of 16 teams, rather than FIFA ranking or past matches. After beating Bahrain 3-1 in Group E, South Korea tied with Jordan 2-2 and Malaysia 3-3 respectively, staying in second place in the group. Saudi Arabia confirmed its advance to the round of 16 by 2-1 against Oman and 2-0 against Kyrgyzstan early on, and then tied 0-0 with Thailand, which operated its rotation, to advance to the round of 16 as the No. 1 player in Group F.
Sports Kida, a global sports media outlet, predicted that the match between the two teams would lead to a penalty shootout. “Saudi Arabia has continued its momentum so strong that it has no loss in eight consecutive A-matches recently. It will also show good performance against strong Asian teams such as Korea,” the media said. “Considering Korea’s skills and experience, Korea is highly likely to win, but Saudi Arabia has proven to be formidable as well. Their defense will be an important challenge for Korea.”
“The match between the two teams could lead to a penalty shootout. Instead, if it goes to a penalty shootout, Korea is more likely to win,” he said, adding that the team added weight to the possibility of a 1-1 draw in regular time and overtime, and Korea’s 4-3 win in penalty shootout.
Still, some media predicted that Korea would win and head to the round of 16. However, the common view is that the victory will be divided by a narrow gap rather than an easy tilt. The U.S. sports news reported, “Korea will have a difficult match against Saudi Arabia in this match, but it is still performing better in the recent Asian Cup. Saudi Arabia has never crossed the barrier of the round of 16 since 2007, while Korea has advanced to the final in 2015 and the quarterfinals in 2019,” predicting Korea’s 1-0 victory and advance to the quarterfinals.
The British Evening Standard said, “Korea should show better performance in the last group stage, especially in the defense. None of the teams that advanced to the round of 16 allowed more runs than Korea (six goals lost),” adding, “Still, they were still threatening in attack, and as the tournament begins in earnest, it is worth expecting Korea to advance to the next level.” He forecasted a 2-1 victory for Korea, saying, “The mixed experience between Korea and Saudi Arabia could make a difference.” 메이저사이트
Meanwhile, soccer statistics firm Opta also predicted a neck-and-neck race, with South Korea’s probability of advancing to the quarterfinals at 51.8% and Saudi Arabia’s 48.2%. Korea is now tying at five wins, eight draws and five losses overall. Although South Korea has been showing strong performance in recent five consecutive matches with no loss (two wins and three draws), South Korea is inferior to South Korea in past matches held at the Asian Cup by posting three draws and one loss. The team that will advance to the quarterfinals will face off against Australia. Australia passed Group B with the top spot earlier, and defeated Indonesia 4-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.