South Korea, led by the Portuguese Paulo Bento, has the herculean task this Monday of trying to qualify for the second time in history to the quarterfinals of a World Cup, in a duel with the five-time champion Brazil.
After taking a place in the ‘eighth’ thanks to the victory over Portugal, which allowed them to stay in second place in Group H, the Asian team will face the most headline of the teams, in a match scheduled for 10:00 p.m. local time. (7:00 p.m. in Lisbon), at the 974 Stadium in Doha.
In the preview of the match, Paulo Bento attributed a clear favoritism to the ‘screte’, not only because of the individualities available, but also because the rival had the opportunity to rotate the ‘eleven’ on the last day of the phase groups. , unlike the South Koreans, who had to play to the limit against the ‘quinas’ team.
For the third time in the round of 16, South Korea will try to exceed expectations and reach, 20 years later, the ‘quarter-finals’ of the competition, something they only achieved in the World Cup co-organized with Japan, in 2002. in which they reached the semifinals and final and finished in fourth position.
However, the Asians will face a Brazil that is always a historic candidate to win the World Cup and that, in the last seven editions, has always reached the quarterfinals. The last time this did not happen was at Italy 1990, when they were knocked out by rival Argentina at this stage of the competition.
The ‘canarinhos’ won Group G, with six points, after victories over Serbia (2-0) and Switzerland (1-0), and a defeat against Cameroon (0-1), in the last day, finishing tied on points with the Swiss, but with an advantage in goals scored against Portugal’s rival in the ‘eighth’.
The Brazilian coach, Tite, who will say goodbye to the command of the ‘screte’ at the end of the World Cup, has already confirmed Neymar’s return to the starting eleven against South Korea, after the Paris Saint-Germain striker missed the duels with Switzerland and Africans, due to injury.
In the other game of the day, Japan will play against the world runner-up Croatia, at 6:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. in Lisbon), in Al-Wakrah, after having surprisingly won Group E, with victories over Spain and Germany, and the Spanish were relegated to second place and the Germans were by the wayside.
This is the fourth time that the Japanese have reached the ‘eighth’ -after 2002, 2010 and 2018-, but they have never surpassed this stage of the competition, unlike the Croatians, who lost the final to France in the last edition. and, in 1998, they ranked third.
The winner of this match will face the winner of Brazil-South Korea in the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinal draw, which will be completed on Tuesday, with the matches Morocco-Spain and Portugal-Switzerland, already has the duels Holland-Argentina and England-France confirmed.
Source: TSF
