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

South Korea shocked the soccer world four years ago when they beat Italy and Spain to reach the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup.  It was a remarkable accomplishment.  In the group stage, an opening match win over Poland and a shock 1-0 victory over Portugal made sure they became the 1st 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 rimmed past Spain on penalties in the quarter finals before a narrow 1-0 defeat against Germany in the semis brought their fairytale run to an end. 

expectancies have risen considerably since that point and Guus Hiddink is a hard act to follow.  During qualification Korea went through 2 coaches before fellow Dutchman Dick Advocaat took over in preparation for the finals in Germany. 

South Korea were some distance from convincing during qualification and Hiddkink’s inheritor, HUmberto Coelho, lasted only two qualifying matches.  He resigned after a bad goalless draw against the Maldives whose current pedigree has a 12-0 defeat to Syria and 17-0 hammering against Iran. 

Jo Bonfrere took over and despite directing the team to their fifth 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 almost half a season with the team four years ago in preparation for the 2002 finals, Advocaat, by comparison, has barely 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 tournament while Park Ji-Sung secured a move to Manchester United. 

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

counseled Bet
Following a phenomenal run four years back, South Korea could revert back to their old ways of not making it past the group stage.  Expectation is at an {all-time record} high but they could suffer from a shock against Togo in their opening match who might be ok for a draw. 

Togo vs South Korea draw 9/4.

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The Norwegian team failed to be accepted for this year edition of the world Cup, but that doesn’t suggest Norway doesn’t have a great football team. 

Norway can point to a good record in recent times.  The Scandinavians qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA but fell in the first 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 later 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 a very good 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’ve been to more FIFA World Cup finals than any other Asia team.  This will be their seventh appearance and 6th successive. 

Pacific Rim’s most frequent visitors to FIFA World Cup finals and first appeared at the world showpiece in 1954.  Before 2002 they hadn’t managed a single win in fourteen finals matches.  That all changed under Dutch coach Guus Hiddink who led them to the last four victories over 4 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 tons 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 chance 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 exciting game like this one and start preparing your picks for the world cup.

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