Korea Republic vs Paraguay
Following their strong outing against Chile, South Korea are aiming for their second consecutive victory when they’ll host Paraguay on Friday at the Suwon World Cup Stadium.
This will be the third of the four International Friendly games for the Taeguk Warriors as they prepare ahead for the upcoming World Cup in November. On the other hand, La Albirroja will look to get more run under their new head coach in Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
Save for their loss against Brazil, South Korea may be feeling good about themselves but it feels that they are far from a finished product ahead of Qatar so they will use this game to further fine-tune their squad.
Talking Points
Heung-Min Son continues to shine for South Korea
One of the biggest things that happened this week for the Taeguk Warriors is Heung-Min Son collecting his 100th international cap during their victory against Chile on Monday.
Son made his senior debut with the national team in 2010 as an 18-year-old and he’s now tied with Cho Kwang-Rae and Park Ji-Sung in terms of total caps. He also became the 16th South Korean footballer to join the FIFA Century Club.
Not only did the Premier League Golden Boot winner hit the century mark, he also pushed his international goalscoring tally to 31 when he found the back of the net during added time. He is currently 27 goals and 37 caps away from leapfrogging Cha Bum-Kun’s record for the most goals and caps while representing the national team.
Meanwhile, his fellow front man Hwang Hee-Chan also got on board against Chile. He, Heung-Min Son, and Hwang Ui-Jo are expected to lead up front once again versus Paraguay.
While their offence is fine, their backline needs to tighten up since they looked overwhelmed at times against Brazil while Chile also gave them headaches as well.
With Fenerbahce defender Kim Min-Jae sidelined due to an ankle injury, South Korea are thin at the back to which the other teams can exploit, so Paulo Bento would be wise to use the likes of Park Min-Gyu and Cho Yu-Min for some energy and younger legs.
Paraguay going through growing pains
La Albirroja’s confidence are at an all-time low following their heavy defeat against Japan where they were thrashed, 4-1. Japan were simply the better team as they outclassed Paraguay in all aspects of the match, and the only positive for La Albirroja is that they scored once.
Derlis Gonzalez scored the lone goal for Paraguay and he has been a bright spot since rejoining the national team after his last appearance during the 2019 Copa America.
The 28-year-old winger is expected to remain in the starting lineup against South Korea and he’ll be joined by Miguel Almiron, Oscar Romero, and Gabriel Avalos up front.
This will be the last international match in this window for Paraguay since their next is against Mexico in a September friendly. With bad results in these past few weeks, Guillermo Barros Schelotto has all summer to try and develop his squad into a more cohesive unit.
History
Friday marks the seventh competitive meeting between the Taeguk Warriors and La Albirroja. So far, South Korea have the slight advantage with two wins, whereas Paraguay have won once and drawn three times.
Their most recent matchup was also a friendly in October 2014 where South Korea prevailed with a score of 2-0.
Of the four opponents for the hosts – who are ranked 29th in the FIFA rankings – this month, Paraguay are the lowest-ranked team at No. 50.
Recent forms between these two sides are so much different as South Korea have won thrice and lost twice in their last five, while Paraguay have only won once and lost four times in the same span.
Prediction
A win for South Korea seems like a foregone conclusion already, as per the latest SBOTOP International Friendly 2022 odds, and we feel that this will be a high-scoring affair with the hosts pretty much responsible for providing the goals.
South Korea are eager to put on a show in front of their home fans, so they should have no problems in beating a lacklustre Paraguay team while putting up several International Friendly 2022 highlights in the process.
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