Ssiball, why did I agree to creating a preview of a sport that I barely follow and for a country that I’ve never been to.  I’m not sure either.  The closest I’ll ever get to there is a former co-worker is from there and I saw some of Seoul when he was walking around when on a video chat together.  Which is why the first word in the post is the only Korean word that I know and it’s a swear word, of course.  It’s along the lines of “shit”, and pronounced “see-see-ball” for those following along a home.  No clue what the real character for that would would be, those letters are the English equivalent. One other thing that stands out from my former co-worker was this:

Eating live octopus is delicacy there, and now that it’s in my head, so too will it be in yours.  When we talked about it, my co-worker got that far away look like when we talk about our favourite foods.  It’s one billion percent not for me, but if that’s what does it for you, then have at it.

When talking about this preview in the clubhouse, the preview is basically “Son and a buncha other guys you have never heard of”, so I’ll try to expand on that a bit.  Or not, if you are one of the resident footy people.

South Korea plays in group H which consists of Uruguay on Nov 24th, Ghana on Nov 28th and Portugal on Dec 2nd.  With South Korea being ranked 28, I would expect losses to Uruguay and Portugal and prob a win over Ghana to put them at 1-2 and not making it to the next round.  If they manage to tie either Uruguay or Portugal and have the tie breaker on FIFA’s fucked up points system, then they prob get to play Brazil from Group G.  Yikes.

Looking at the other teams in group H, South Korea has only one PL star, Son Heung-min from The Spurs.  The others teams in group H have at least a few names listed from the Prem, so that’s not a good sign to me.  They made it to the World Cup from an automatic birth from there place in the AFC.  They are coached by Paulo Bento in their 10th World Cup appearance.  There’s also Hwang Hee-chan from the Wolverhampton Wanderers, who looks to be a more defensive mid fielder than a scorer.

In doing some quick gooling, it looks like Son is hurt.  He underwent surgery to repair a fracture under his left eye at the start of November so may not be fit enough to get on the pitch.  That’s really going to limit the team’s chances of moving on as Son has the bulk of the teams goals.

The team nick name are “Taegeuk Warriers” and “Tigers of Asia”, so much better than some other nickanmes, side eye’s the Danes.  Since their kits are all red, they also go by “the Reds” so some of that side eye needs to come back.  This makes the fans of the team be called “Red Devils”.

Looking at the player list does not show any “Chads” as one would expect with a post from GTD.  However, all but one name contains a hyphen in it, which I’m sure that
a) has something to do with their family or history that I have no clue about
iv) and is better set up than most of our last names
4) profit

In their last world cup, the Reds beat Germany, for the “Miracle of Kazan”.  From wikipedia:

At the 2018 World Cup, they lost their first game against Sweden 1–0 after conceding a penalty kick. They then faced Mexico and lost 2–1 after conceding another penalty kick. However, despite their two consecutive losses, South Korea was not eliminated just yet. To have any chance of advancing, South Korea would have to win their final group stage match against the defending champions Germany by at least two goals and Mexico would have to defeat Sweden in its last group stage game. South Korea for its part did what it had to do to stay in contention and won 2–0 against Germany with goals from Kim Young-gwon and Son Heung-min, causing them to be eliminated in the first round for the first time in 80 years. Germany had 28 shots with 6 on target, but the South Korea’s defense, led by keeper Jo Hyeon-woo, did not concede once. However, Mexico lost to Sweden that same day and thus South Korea ultimately finished third in the group. As a result, South Korea saved Mexico from being eliminated and Mexican fans heavily praised the Koreans and celebrated their victory in front of the South Korean embassy.

Any time you can beat the German’s is a good day.

My prediction is that Son isn’t well enough to play, and they lose to Uruguay and Portagal and then draw to Ghana, to finish 3rd in their Group due to the point thingy.

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Enjoy the games everyone.

Sources here, here, here and here

Banner Image generated from nightcafe.studio via AI using the phrase “south korea world cup of soccer 2022 preview from door flies open”. Yes, that one person looks to have 3 legs.  He’s prob their best defender.