South Korea head into their second group game against Kyrgyzstan knowing that a win could book a place in the knockout stages with a game in hand. Here is our preview and prediction for this AFC Asian Cup Group Game;
South Korea v Kyrgyzstan – Preview & Prediction
Who: South Korea vs. Kyrgyzstan
When: Friday January 11th at 8pm (Local Time) / Saturday 1pm (Korea Time)
Where: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain
South Korea narrowly edged out the Philippines in their opening group game 1-0. However they were expected to win more comfortably. The defence performed well, but up front they were lacking a little cutting edge, and they’ll still be without Son Heung-Min and now Ki Sung-Yong for this game. Others will need to step forward and convert chances in this game.
Kyrgyzstan were a little unlucky to lose against a strong China PR side the other 2-1, and showcased some dangerous attacking plays. Akhlidin Israilov scored their only goal, and the Indonesia based midfielder is one of their key players.
H2H Record:
This is the first ever meeting between South Korea and Kyrgyzstan.
Prediction:
Overall this once again won’t be an easy game for South Korea, however I feel they’ll have learn lessons from their opening game and will score more this time. Kyrgyzstan could get a goal to make things interesting but in the end I see South Korea winning this one.
South Korea 4-1 Kyrgyzstan
Finally
Just quickly here is the South Korea squad for the AFC Asian Cup;
Any thoughts, comments or questions. Feel free to comment below or message me via Twitter.
Tim
tim@modernseoul.org
@tpbarnes86
