The third and final group stage match for Portugal, against South Korea. Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammates have already qualified but their bench is more than capable of shutting down the South Koreans, who will need to be on the attack.
📄 Match Analysis: South Korea – Portugal
South Korea was surprised by Ghana in the previous group-stage match. The first match ended with a score of 0-0 against Uruguay. The South Koreans have no choice; they must win. What scares me, is that the Portuguese have a real platform for easily launching themselves forward.
Revenge for Portugal? The two teams faced off in the 2002 World Cup. In the group stage, and on home soil, South Korea surprised everyone by beating Portugal by a score of 1 to 0. The South Koreans could pull off another upset this year, though the Portuguese will be looking to erase a painful memory of their history.
As such, I think that Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammates will be patient, and if they don’t win, they’ll at least walk away with a draw.
✔ Exact Score Prediction: South Korea – Portugal
This encounter promises a lot, a number of things could happen. Portugal has a number of players capable of making a difference, whilst Korea can count on Son to outplay the Portuguese.
Victory for South Korea
This scenario seems the least likely. The South Koreans are amongst the absolute best teams in Asia, but Portugal seems to be a mountain too difficult to climb for Heung-Min Son’s teammates.
Draw
This scenario is possible. Portugal could change out a number of mainstay players for this match against Korea, who it wouldn’t usually swap out from one match to another. We shouldn’t overlook the possibility of both teams walking away with a single point, even if we hope to see some goals.
Victory for Portugal
This is the outcome we favour. The Portuguese are superior to their adversaries and we imagine that even if Cristiano Ronaldo is on the bench, the Portuguese squad is better than the Korean squad. The individual players could make all the difference.
✔ Half-time/Full-time prediction: Portugal 1st half; Portugal 2nd half
We see Portugal leading this match from beginning to end, even if the final margin will not be very significant. One goal in each half will likely be enough to shelter Portugal from a South Korean comeback.
✔ Scorer Predictions: South Korea – Portugal
In this interesting match, Heung-Min Son will once again be the one to watch for the Portuguese defence. On the opposite side, Joao Felix and Bruno Fernandes, if they are on the same page, could be capable of making a difference for the team.
✔ Double Chance Scoring predictions: H. Son / A. Silva
As we suggested above, this could be an opportunity to see the star of South Kora, the attacker Heung-Min Son score. On the Portuguese side, André Silva could get a bit of playing time and make the most of it by finding the back of the net.
