The Koreans must be glad to see the back of Carlos Queiroz on the bench of Team Melli, as the Portuguese coach was a thorn in the back of the Koreans and managed to rub some Koreans up the wrong way.
Ironically, Queiroz was not completely out of the Koreans lives as the last match Korea played before this international break was a friendly against Carlos Queiroz’s Colombia side. Apparently for a friendly game, it was quite a tough affair with clashes and plenty of fouls. Could have been the curse of Queiroz!
Desperate as they are to defeat Iran, more symbolic as this is only a friendly international, another Portuguese, much friendlier to the Koreans than Queiroz is trying to save the Taegeuk Warriors blushes. Paulo Bento is fielding a full strength team. Star player Son Heung-Min was flown all the way from Europe to face Team Melli after what was a hectic season for his club Tottenham Hotspurs. That shows how determined they are to win this game.
Wilmots, oozing with confidence and determined to have a perfect record start with Team Melli, will most probably stick with the formation that overwhelmed Syria 5-0 in Tehran. However, after a long injury season, Ezzatollahi might have earned himself a place in the starting lineup, Mehdi Torabi might also get the call. Both players were substituted in during the Syria Game. After Majid Hosseini missed the flight to Seoul following his shoulder injury, his natural replacement would be Kanani who had a good season and connects well with Pouraliganji in the heart of defense.
Sardar Azmoun who had a splendid season with Zenit St. Petersburg will be missing, but after Taremi’s hat trick in the last match, Azmoun absense will have less impact this time round. The teenager Sayyadmanish who had a dream debut 4 days ago, will also have a good chance to play more minutes.
FORM
PROBABLE LINE-UP:
Korea Rep.
Kim Seung-Gyu: Kim Young-Gwon, Kim Jin-Su, Ju Se-Jong, Kwon Kyung-Won, Kim Min-Jae, Kim Moon-Hwan, Son Heung-Min, Lee Jae-Sung, Hwang Hee-Chan, Hwang In-Beom
Iran:
Alireza BIRANVAND ; Ramin REZAEIAN,Morteza POURALIGANJI,Milad MOHAMMADI, Hossein KANANI-ZADEGAN, Saeid EZZATOLLAHI, Omid EBRAHIMI, Mehdi TORABI , Mehdi TAREMI ,Karim ANSARIFARD, AliReza JAHANBAKHSH
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Korea Rep. :Son Heung-Min , Hwang In-beom ,
Iran: Mehdi TAREMI , Alireza JAHANBAKHSH , Allahyar SAYYADMANESH
SCORE PREDICTION:
1 -1
VENUE: Seoul World Cup Stadium
Kick Off: 14:00 (GMT +3) – 15:30 Tehran Time