Even though bsk is pretty dead(Has been for a while), I'll start and leave this thread for you remaining posters for further WC discussions of both our team and others.
The group is looking tough. Ghana added Inaki Williams, Lamptey, and Salisu. Partey is recovering from injury. Portugal has a plethora of talent but for some reason the coach seems to change the lineup all the time, and relies on guys like Otavio. I'm sure CR7 will start in the WC though. Uruguay has a disgusting midfield of Valverde-Torreira-Bentancur. I wish we had Iran's group instead.
I would say in Pot 1 we got the easiest team other than the super obvious, but it doesn't really matter because anyone in Pot 1 would shitkick Korea. We definitely got a harder Pot 2 group, the only ones in that group that are better imo are Germany, Croatia, and Netherlands. And our Pot 4 luck was just awful; Ghana, Canada and Wales were the ones to avoid in there.
Unfortunately, I think he is a god to them so may affect morale positively. That said, I think he's a detriment on the field with his ego so I hope that plays out.
8 years later, its finally time to discuss if Jung Sungryong was unfairly scapegoated for our porous defense in the 2014 World Cup.
Portugal will finish 1st for sure. Just too much talent. 2nd place is up for grabs. I'm not sold whatsoever on Korea's defense (other than for "the monster" but attacking wise they look to be a fine side.) Also the goalkeeper seems to be a liability. I think South Korea's realistic max is 4 points. The formular to advance is plain and simple actually. Beat Ghana and scrape out a draw against Uruguay (preferably as they are the main opponent for 2nd imo) or Portugal. I think Ghana recruting players and strenghen their squad works in favour of South Korea. I think South Korea will rely somewhat on Ghana to play spoiler to Uruguay on the last matchday as I don't see Son & Co. beating Uruguay. We can better gauge Ghana after the Brazil friendly as it's for the first time they called up a squad that is close to what we'll likely see in Qatar. The way I see it no team will finish pointless. Possibly all teams will have a victory.
Portugal's projected starting 11. So stacked. https://www.goal.com/en/lists/portu...andes-/blt45d9aa5dbc53650d#cs561a0ab12679345b
I watched the Japan vs USA match, and USA pretty much lost in a similar fashion as we did minus the extra goal. Japan closed down any open space shutting them down from start to finish. Now, I am not familiar with Berhalter's usmnt aside from maybe Pulisic and Giovanni Reyna, but they had 0 shots on target as well.
Having just finished watching the US Japan match, the score flatters the US side, who was horrible across the pitch (except for Turner who made a couple of fine saves). They played almost like a pickup team, generously gifting under Japan's well organized pressure and showing zero chemistry in attack. It was a truly, truly, truly shocking display. As a dual US/Korea supporter, after this morning I'm feeling much optimistic about Team Bento than Team GGG.
Seems like Iran has been revitalized ever since CQ returned to the helm, they just beat Uruguay 1-0 with a lone Taremi goal in the 79th minute. CQ is perhaps the best manager they had and will ever have throughout their entire footballing era.
Even this is asking for a lot . But, seriously though, if we're gonna hit the group stage exit again, I want us to go out in a similar fashion to as we did in the last WC edition in 2018.
Outside of 2002, 2010, and perhaps the 2006 WC editions, when have we not been in trouble since? Even leading up to the 2002 WC, we got smacked 5-0 to France at the 2001 Fifa Confederations Cup, then went on to decrease the deficit to 3 goals while scoring 2. I'm not trying to that say we won't be experiencing technical difficulties at the WC, but friendlies show one thing whilst the WC can show something totally different. If there's one pointer that we have compared to primarily Portugal and Uruguay, is the fact that we have more experience with Qatar than those two teams, mainly speaking about the heat/weather, and pitch/general atmosphere conditions (Ghana is in Africa, so it won't affect them much considering their continent is also hot). And, although it's not saying much, it is still something to take note of.
uruguay and Portugal are at their most beatable as well. Suarez and Ronaldo well past their primes while Son is at his peak. There’s just enough there to give me hope
But Bento is the manager. That should extinguish any sort of hope. He could not deliver with Portugal and Ronaldo at his peak. Why do people think he will, with much weaker Korea? At his age he cannot possibly be some kind of misunderstood genius. Be real.
Even at their age, they still can do damage, and with the likes of Darwin Nunez or Diogo Jota, Kim Min-jae alone can't shut them all out at the same time. One thing I do hope for is that the heat does the trick.
If we cant even beat Costa Rica's B team and barely win against Cameroon's B team with our best 11 as a home team, I dont think there's much hope. We don't even have any more friendlies planned either unlike Japan. And it seems like we still have no idea what works the best for us. Hopefully they will prove me wrong...