Road to Russia 2018~
Firstly, sorry to all our Tavern followers our blog has been quite slow these days. All our writers have been very busy lately. Congratulations to our Taeguk Warriors for winning 8-0 against Laos. I knew we will win but I not by this mile. The South Korea vs Lebanon game will kick off 11pm Korean time or 5pm local time at Saida International Stadium in Beirut. MBC will be broadcasting the game. Hurray! A midnight game for me.
Here are some statistics:
| South Korea | VS | Lebanon |
| Uli Stielike | Coach | Miodrag Radulović |
| Taeguk Warriors | Nickname | The Cedars |
| 57th | FIFA Ranking | 133rd |
| 7W, 2D, 1L | Stats | 1W, 2D, 7L |
FIFA ranks South Korea 57th in the world, we recently dropped five ranks from last month. Lebanon is ranked 133rd in the world. We have won the opponent 7 times, drew twice and lost only once.
The Lebanon jinx
South Korea have gone win less in their last three trips to Lebanon, a 1-1 draw in 2004 during the qualification for the 2006 World Cup, a 2-1 loss in 2011 in the third round of the 2014 World Cup qualification, and then another 1-1 draw during the final round of the 2014 World Cup qualification in 2013. In that last trip, South Korea were badly outplayed and only the last second goal by Kim Chi-Woo got the draw. South Korea’s last win over Lebanon on the road came in 1993. For all their inability to win in Lebanon, South Korea have been much better at home against their Middle Eastern rival. Since 2004, the two have also faced each other three times in South Korea. And South Korea have won all three, with the margin of 11-0. Ending the drought this week will carry extra significance because South Korea will likely need a victory to stay atop Group G.
Squad
Taeguk Warriors will be missing Son Heung-Min for this game, as he left for London to complete his administrative work for his new transfer with Tottenham Hotspurs. Koo Ja-Cheol (Augsburg) and Park Joo-ho (Borussia Dortmund) missed the game against Laos as they were also dealing with new transfer paperwork. But they are now back and should be ready to face Lebanon tomorrow.
Lineup
Korean media are speculating that we are going to go for our favourite 4-2-3-1 formation. With Koo Ja-Cheol and Park Joo-Ho back, the media is saying they will be starting. Stielike said he learnt from his mistakes at the 2015 EAFF East Asian Cup and won’t be changing the lineup too much. He said he will only be making a few changes from the squad that won 8-0 against Laos. Fans are not too happy with this lineup, they said they prefer stability in the defense area. They want either Kim Young-Gwon and Kwak Tae-Hwi or Kim Young-Gwon and Hong Jeong-Ho. Also fans prefer Kwon Chang-Hoon to start instead of Koo Ja-Cheol. I think Koo Ja-Cheol will start as Stielike speaks highly of Koo.
Prediction
2-0 win for South Korea. Come on South Korea let’s break our away jinx.
Source: Yonhap news
I really hope korea doesn’t draw or lose to Lebanon. Remembering our last encounter with them and barely drawing 1-1 makes me feel uncomfortable.
Korea can pull off wins against Myanmar and Laos but really Lebanon and Kuwait are their “big” opponents of this group.
And seeing how much korea struggled against Kuwait last time, I hope it’s not the same this time around.
Good luck Taeguk Warriors VS Lebanon. Please win it for us!
stielike is definitely no coach choi or cho. stielike will use every weapon he has in his arsenal to his advantage. some people say pitch condition is no excuse for bad performances, but it does. kuwait and especially lebanon’s pitch is one of the worst pitch you’ll ever see on tv. it’s so terrible that you can see sand and dirt patches all over the field.