After the second round, the Portuguese national team guaranteed a place in the playoffs ahead of time, so on the last game day of the group stage, the representatives of Quartet H will play for the second ticket. Before the new match, South Korea occupies the third position and only a winning result will allow the team to leave the group. In addition, in terms of the tournament, the result of the parallel match between Uruguay and Ghana will be very important.
South Korea
South Korea have only scored one point after the first two matches, although in terms of play, the team is definitely not among the worst in the World Cup. In the first round, the Koreans drew with Uruguay in a match that no one wanted to win, and in the second round they lost to Ghana in a high-scoring match, creating a lot of chances in front of their own goal.
Realizing their goal-scoring opportunities is South Korea’s main problem so far in this tournament, and the team may not have many chances against Portugal. So far, Son Heung-min from Tottenham, who was expected to perform strongly in Qatar, is not performing in the best way at the World Cup. Perhaps the leader of the Korean national team will help the team beat the Portuguese in the decisive match.
Portugal
Fernando Santos’ men have won two matches out of two, showing decent results and a great level of play. After such a great start, the Portuguese began to be put in the same row as the favorites of the tournament, because the victories over Ghana and Uruguay showed the real readiness of the team for the World Cup in Qatar.
Portugal has completed its task in the group and will enter the playoffs from first place, therefore, in the match of the third round, the coach of the team will clearly give rest to the leaders of the national team, and football players who have not played so often will get their chance to show themselves. But even with reserve players in the main squad, the Portuguese are quite capable of scoring maximum points in their quartet.
Interesting Facts
the rivals have only met once in their history at the World Cup: in 2002, South Korea sensationally beat Portugal with a score of 1-0
Portugal are one of three teams at the World Cup in Qatar to win their first two matches
the South Korean national team has not yet won the 2022 World Cup
the most productive player of the Portuguese national team at the tournament is Bruno Fernandes, who has two goals and two assists
Quotation from BC Favbet
The well-known betting company Favbet gives the following odds for this match of the third round of the group stage of the 2022 World Cup: you can bet on a win for South Korea at 4.50, a draw at 4.00, and a win for Portugal at 1.80.
South Korea vs Portugal: Predictions and Betting from Sport Arena
It will be the match of life for South Korea at the World Cup in Qatar, with Son and company required to take all three points to continue their fight at the World Cup. If the Koreans can play with the same desire that the team had in the last minutes of the game against Ghana, then they are quite capable of creating a sensation and taking all three points. Also, a lot will depend on the composition and mood of the Portuguese players. But still, tournament motivation and schedules should help South Korea at least not lose in this match.
Transcarpathian Football Association
The Transcarpathian Football Association announced a vote of no confidence in the head of the Ukrainian Football Association Andriy Pavelko.
At the extraordinary executive committee held in Transcarpathia, members of the regional association called on Pavelka to resign. The minutes of the meeting have already been sent to the UAF Football House.
At the same time, journalist Kostyantyn Andriiuk reports that in the near future similar meetings of the vote of no confidence in the president of the UAF will be held in the rest of the regional football organizations of Ukraine.
We will remind you that the Pechersk Court of the city of Kyiv ordered Pavelka a preventive measure in the form of arrest for two months, until January 22, 2023. However, Pavelko had the opportunity to post bail, which the UAF took advantage of, paying about 10 million hryvnias.
Pavelko, together with the general secretary of the Association Yuriy Zapisotskyi, is involved in a criminal case and has received suspicions in a corruption case. The capital court imposed a similar preventive measure on Zapisotskyi.
UAF considers the whole process to be a work commissioned by the former heads of the Association. At the same time, on October 18, the house of the UAF president was searched. Pavelko denied conducting searches in his own house, however, he emphasized that behind-the-scenes games “with a Russian trail” are being conducted, the purpose of which is to eliminate the current leadership of the Association.
In 2018, the “Schemes” program conducted an investigation, as a result of which journalists suspected the UAF and its president Andriy Pavelek of corruption through the factory for the production of artificial fields.