North Korea vs South Korea 15/10/19

15 October 2019

North Korea and South Korea go head-to-head for their 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying (WCQ) encounter at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang. Both teams are coming off wins and are sitting top of Group H as the only two nations to register a 100% start to the qualifying campaign.

Notably improved over the past few months, ‘Chollima’ have gone from six consecutive defeats that have seen them concede at least four goals per match to five straight triumphs, including four in a row accompanied by a clean sheet. Even so, goals have been at a premium for North Korea lately, as three of their last four triumphs ended with the same 1-0 scoreline. Still, the hosts have lost just two of their last 15 home matches, going back to June 2015 (W11, D2, L2). While nine of those triumphs saw them score 2+ match goals, seven have been to nil, which can encourage Yun Jong-su ahead of this clash. His men have failed to beat their South Korean counterparts in 12 consecutive H2Hs (D7, L5), scoring one goal or less in each of those matches.

After an impressive 2-0 away triumph over Turkmenistan, the visitors have dismantled Sri Lanka 8-0 at home last time out to move top of the group. The South Koreans are now unbeaten in their last seven outings, friendlies included (W5, D2). Four of these wins have seen Paulo Bento’s men keep a clean sheet while three witnessed them lead at the halftime break. In fact, the Taegeuk Warriors have lost just one of 12 games since the turn of the year (W8, D3, L1), with over half of those results (win/loss) coming via the identical 1-0 scoreline (W4, L1). Since exiting the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Taegeuk Warriors have won three of four matches away from home (W3, D1), with each of these triumphs seeing them beat their rivals to nil.