Both hosts and winners of the inaugural World Cup in 1930, Uruguay have qualified for the tournament’s finals for the fourth consecutive time with each of their last three participations witnessing them progress from their group. Confident with the mixture of youth and experience in his side, head coach Diego Alonso has been bold with his target in Qatar by claiming that “the players and I want to become world champions”!
The team are in good form too as the Sky Blue have lost just once in 2022 (W7, D1) which came in a surprise friendly loss against underdogs Iran! Having also finished CONMEBOL qualification on a high after registering four consecutive wins, whilst conceding just once, Uruguay can dream big about lifting their third-ever World Cup trophy, and their first for 72 years!
This will be a tenth consecutive World Cup finals appearance for South Korea, but they’ve progressed from the group stage just twice meaning expectations are perhaps lower than their opponents here. An incredible fourth-place finish from their home World Cup in 2002 remains their biggest achievement – something Tottenham Hotspur’s star Son Heung-Min would like to repeat as he is ready to “take a risk” and start here despite his recent surgery.
With Son on board, South Korea qualified for Qatar with a decent record from their final AFC group qualification (W7, D2, L1) after conceding the lowest number of goals (three). If their star player cannot make it in time for this game, then at least the Taegeuk Warriors can gain some motivation from triumphing in three of their previous five World Cup finals openers (D1, L1) – none of those with Son in the squad!
Key battle: Uruguay’s Luis Suárez will be looking forward to his fourth World Cup appearance and scored twice in the Round of 16 when these two sides met in 2010! Looking to thwart him will be defender Kim Min-jae, who has led Napoli to seven clean sheets in his 20 competitive appearances this term, whilst also scoring two headed goals.
Hot stat: Uruguay have conceded in just two of their previous nine group stage matches at the World Cup, ending their group without a single goal conceded twice!
World Cup trivia: South Korea conceded the fastest goal at a World Cup finals when Turkey netted against them after just 10.8 seconds in 2002!
