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Posts Tagged ‘World Cup’

The Norwegian team failed to be accepted for this year edition of the planet Cup, but that doesn’t suggest Norway has not got a great soccer team. 

Norway can point to a respectable record recently.  The Scandinavians qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA but fell in the 1st round by the slimmest of margins.  All four groups in their group finished on the same number of points and goal difference ; but Norway had scored fewer goals and packed their bags for home. 

four years on they had a great part in France 1998 defeating the potent Brazil in what’s considered the best game they’ve ever play in the final stage of this competitions.  That victory enabled them to go to the round of sixteen, but lost against an excellent Italy squad. 

Norway missed the Korea/Japan World Cup and this year will not be present either in Germany.  But they have lots of young players that given the continuity needed the can put together a good team for the future. 

South Korea is obviously the most successful Asian team.  They have been to more FIFA World Cup finals than any other Far East team.  This could be their 7th appearance and sixth consecutive. 

Pacific Rim’s most frequent visitors to FIFA World Cup finals and first appeared at the worldwide showpiece in 1954.  Prior to 2002 they had not managed a single win in fourteen finals matches.  That all changed under Dutch coach Guus Hiddink who led them to the last 4 victories over four western european teams, were they manage to get to the semifinals leaving in the way Italy and Spain a first for any Asian team in a World Cup. 

Park Ji-Sung, now at Manchester United, gives a real attacking threat from midfield while left-back Lee Young-Pyo is a key figure in a defense.  That operates in front of experienced goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae.  There are lots of options up front while, Ahn Jung-Hwan whose golden goal defeated Italy, Cha Du-Ri and Lee Dong-Gook the top scorer at the 2k AFC Asian Cup. 

With a formidable and experienced squad Korea will have the opportunity to repeat their performance from last year edition.  to do that they have to prepare superb and one step of that preparation will be the friendly matches.  Such as the one they’ll have in Oslo against Norway that may help them to correct those last minute details before the big contest. 

Sports betting for these games, is available in most books, so don’t miss your chance to bet on an enjoyable game such as this one and start preparing your picks for the world cup.

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Outright odds : 250/1
Group G Winners : 10/1

South Korea shocked the soccer world four years back when they beat Italy and Spain to get to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup.  It was a noteworthy accomplishment.  In the group stage, an opening match win over Poland and a shock 1-0 triumph over Portugal ensured they became the first Asian team to qualify from the group stage since Saudi Arabia in 1994. 

In the second round they defeated Italy in extra time, a result which saw winning goal scorer Ahn Jung-Hwan sacked by his employers at Serie A club Perugia.  They edged past Spain on penalties in the quarter-final before a narrow 1-0 defeat against Germany in the semis brought their fairytale run to a close. 

expectancies have risen considerably since then and Guus Hiddink is a hard act to follow.  During qualification Korea went through two coaches before fellow Dutchman Dick Advocaat usurped in preparation for the finals in Germany. 

South Korea were far from convincing during qualification and Hiddkink’s successor, HUmberto Coelho, lasted only 2 qualifying matches.  He resigned after an embarrassing goalless draw against the Maldives whose recent pedigree includes a 12-0 defeat to Syria and 17-0 hammering against Iran. 

Jo Bonfrere usurped and despite steering the team to their 5th successive World Cup finals, quit in Aug 2005 following lacklustre performances.  Korea finished as runners up in their qualifying group but endured home and away defeats to Saudi Arabia and an away draw to lowly Uzbekistan. 

While Hiddink enjoyed nearly half a season with the team 4 years back in preparation for the 2002 finals, Advocaat, in comparison, has hardly had an opportunity to begin to know his squad. 

South Korea will no longer be seen as an unproven quantity and a number of players are excelling at club level in Europe.  Hiddink took a number of quality players with him to PSV Eindoven following the last contest while Park Ji-Sung secured a move to Manchester United. 

it may also be argued that Korea have struggled defensively since some of their veteran defenders retired since the last World Cup.  Significantly previous captain and defensive lynchpin Myung Bo Hong who participated in the 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002 finals, eventually retiring with 135 caps. 

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Following an exceptional run 4 years ago, South Korea could revert to their old ways of not making it past the group stage.  Expectancy is at abest-ever record} high but they could suffer from a shock against Togo in their opening match who might be good enough for a draw. 

Togo vs South Korea draw 9/4.

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