Lebanon vs South Korea – Preview, H2H, Line-ups, Prediction | WCQ 2022

Son Heung-Min of South Korea
Son Heung-Min of South Korea - IMAGO / Penta Press

Lebanon will face South Korea this Thursday in the seventh round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier game in Sidon. 

Venue: Saida Municipal Stadium (Sidon) 

Key Statistics

Lebanon have failed to score in three of their last five games in all competitions.

The hosts have scored four goals and conceded six in their opening six WCQ games.

They have lost three of their last five games registered as the home team.

South Korea have conceded only two goals in six WCQ games so far. They have the joint-best defence in Group A, level with Iran.

Only Iran have scored more goals (11) than the eight the visitors have scored in six WCQ games.

They are unbeaten in their WCQ – W4, D2. 

Head to head

South Korea have enjoyed memorable meetings with Lebanon. The visitors have won nine of the last 13 head-to-head meetings with Lebanon (W1, D3). 

Latest performances in all competitions

Lebanon: W-L-L-L-L

South Korea: W-W-W-W-D

Lebanon

Lebanon resume their World Cup qualifying campaign against South Korea and desperately need another win. 

Coming off the back of a three-game winless run in the World Cup qualifying games, Lebanon have a chance to salvage their campaign when they welcome South Korea to the Saida Municipal Stadium In Sidon this Thursday.

Lebanon find themselves in a somewhat tricky situation as they are one point behind the United Arab Emirates, who are occupying the playoffs qualification position and one point ahead of Iraq in fifth place.

It is, therefore, safe to say that the fate of Lebanon rests in their hands as all they have to do is avoid losing their next four matches and hope that the United Arab Emirates drop points to give them a chance of qualifying through playoffs.

Possible Lebanon starting line-ups

Mostafa Matar; Abbas Assi, Nour Mansour, Michel Melki, Zain Tahan; Rabih Ataya, Mouhammed-Ali Dhaini, Bassel Zakaria Jradi, Soony Saad; Mohamed Haidar; Hassan Maatouk.

Injured: None 

Doubtful: None 

Suspended: None 

South Korea

South Korea are yet to taste defeat in the group stages and are in potent form, winning four and drawing two of their six group matches. 

After the recent thrashing of Iraq, the Asian tigers sit second with an eight-point advantage over the United Arab Emirates. They are on the brink of securing a tenth straight world cup appearance.

Paulo Bento’s side have put in powerful performances to make their world cup qualification campaign easier as we approach the final stages of the group stage.

With their eight-point lead over the United Arab Emirates, the Asian tigers need just four points from their last four games to achieve guaranteed qualification, which might come sooner depending on how UAE fare against Syria. 

With nine wins in 13 meetings against their hosts, they will fancy their chances of taking maximum points from this tie.

Possible South Korea starting line-ups

Seung-Gyu Kim; Yong Lee, Moon-Hwan Kim, Kyung-Won Kwon, Jin-Su Kim; Seung-Ho Paik, Ji-Su Park; Min-Kyu Song, Jae-Sung Lee, Chang-Hoon Kwon; Ui-Jo Hwang

Injured: Hee-Chan Hwang, Son Heung-min 

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Prediction

Lebanon 0-3 South Korea