On the 24th, at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, Qatar World Cup Final Qualifier Game 9 for ‘Group 1’
Iran’s top scorer Taremi and Jahanbakshi confirmed Corona 19 and might not come to Korea
Bentuho is a key striker such as Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, and Hwang Ui-jo.
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Ahn Hong-seok = The Korean national football team has a golden opportunity to unwind following 11 years of ‘drawing in Iran’.
It was confirmed that two key Iranian goalkeepers might not accompany them on their expedition to Korea due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
The Korean national team, led by coach Paulo Bento, will play the ninth match of Group A of the 2022 Qatar Asian Final Qualifier once morest Iran at the Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 pm on the 24th.
Korea and Iran have already secured tickets to the finals, which are given to the second place in each group. Iran is in first place (with 22 points, 7 victories and 1 draw) and Korea is in second place (with 20 points, 6 wins and 2 draws).
But Bentuho has no intention of being satisfied with the second place in the group. He is trying to protect his pride as ‘Asia’s strongest’ by defeating Iran and finishing first in the group.
Iran is almost the only team in Asia where Korea is inferior. Korea lost 9 wins, 10 draws and 13 losses in 32 A matches once morest Iran.
Moreover, following a 1-0 win in the quarter-finals of the 2011 Asian Cup, in 11 years, they did not win a single match in 7 matches. After the last win, they lost 4 in a row, and then went on to draw 3 matches in a row.
The recent trend is not bad. Last October, in the fourth match of the final qualifying match held at Azadi Stadium in Tehran, Iran, which is called the ‘tomb of the away team’, Bentuho played a dominant game and drew 1-1.
This home match is a good opportunity to break the ‘bad ties’ with Iran. This is because Iran’s top scorer in the final qualifying round was out of line.
It was confirmed that the Iranian national team entered Korea on the followingnoon of the 22nd with two missing from the originally notified entry list.
According to the Korea Football Association, the missing players are Médi Taremi (Porto) and Alireza Jahanbaksi (Feyenoord).
Iran scored 13 goals in the final qualifying round, of which 7 goals were accounted for by Taremi (4 goals) and Jahanbaksi (3 goals). Their failure to step forward is a huge blow to Iran.
Sardar Azmun (Leverkusen), a leading striker called the ‘Messi of Iran’, has only scored two goals in the final qualifying round.
In Korea, too, there were changes to the convening list, with Na Sang-ho (Seoul), Jung Woo-young (Freiburg), and Kim Jin-gyu (Jeonbuk) missing, and Cho Young-wook (Seoul), Nam Tae-hee (Alduhail), and Ko Seung-beom (Kimcheon) were replaced due to the Corona 19.
However, unlike Iran, key strikers such as Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), and Hwang Ui-jo (Bordeaux) are in good health.
Heung-Min Son, who improved his goal sense to the utmost by scoring his first multi-goal of the season in the English Premier League (EPL) match once morest West Ham over the weekend (Tottenham 3-1 win), will join the national team on the 22nd.
Hwang Ui-jo, who plays an active part in Son Heung-min and Bentuho’s ‘one-two punch’, will also join the NFC (Football Team Training Center) in Paju on this day.
Hwang Hee-chan was replaced by a hip injury in the match once morest Everton on the 13th, raising concerns, but fortunately he joined the national team.
It is a bit disappointing that the flank defense power is not 100% due to injuries to Hong Chul (Ulsan) and Lee Yong (Jeonbuk), but center back Kim Min-jae (Fenerbahce) and Jung Woo-young (Al Sadd) of the midfield maintain the national team’s ‘spine line’ strong If so, it shouldn’t be a big problem.
However, before the big game, it is as important as training for the Iranian war to do everything possible with a leak-free quarantine to prevent the spread of Corona 19 within the national team.
Baek Seung-ho (Jeonbuk), who was recently expanding his position in the national team, was confirmed to have COVID-19 and was canceled on the 22nd. Instead, Wondujae (Ulsan) was selected instead.
An official from the national team said, “Fortunately, none of the players except Baek Seung-ho show symptoms of Corona 19. None of the players tested positive in the rapid antigen test conducted this morning.”
Before the match once morest Iran, the national team will be tested for COVID-19 this evening.
On the other hand, a victory over Iran can lead to ‘realism’. If you raise the FIFA ranking and are assigned to a higher pot in the World Cup final group draw, you are more likely to be tied to the same group as the weaker team.
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2022/03/22 10:45 Send