Lebanon vs Korea Republic

Saida Municipal Stadium is the venue as Lebanon look to keep their hopes of making the upcoming World Cup finals alive versus the in-form Korea Republic.

Lebanon have followed a come-from-behind 3-2 win at Syria up with a brace of defeats by a single-goal margin, throwing their qualification hopes into doubt. After six rounds of Group A fixtures, the hosts have a single victory to their name (D2, L3), and it’s no wonder they sit a point below the coveted third spot. Additionally, they have lost both third-round World Cup qualifiers at home by a narrow one-goal margin, with each of their three goals conceded across those reverses coming on or beyond the 85th minute. The fact the ‘Cedars’ have drawn a blank in four of their last five World Cup qualifying H2Hs (D1, L4) douses any embers of optimism when it comes to a potential upset here.

Meanwhile, the Korea Republic are on the verge of securing their place at Qatar 2022 after going unbeaten in their opening six third-round World Cup qualifiers (W4, D2). The Koreans have based their stellar qualifying success on a rock-solid defence that has conceded a joint-low two goals in Group A so far. Indeed, three of their four third-round victories have yielded a clean sheet, indicating Paulo Bento’s team could be hard to penetrate here. Curiously, following a run of three consecutive defeats on foreign soil, the ‘Taegeuk Warriors’ have racked up a four-match unbeaten streak on the road (W3, D1). While each of the aforementioned three losses saw Korea concede precisely three goals per game, they have only shipped one goal in their last four travels. What’s more, they netted 3+ gaols in three of those four away matches, highlighting their scoring prowess.