South Korea vs Panama 16/10/18
16 October 2018
South Korea and Panama are destined for a face-to-face friendly meeting, which is scheduled to take place at the Cheonan Stadium in South Korea.
Although the Taegeuk Warriors failed to impress in the opening two games at the World Cup, they have performed a sensation by defeating Germany in the final match of the group stage, thus sending the former holders back home empty-handed. An outstanding triumph over Die Mannschaft has made a positive impact on Paulo Bento’s team who then outscored Costa Rica in the first post-World Cup match before being held to a scoreless draw to Chile. However, they’ve managed to bounce back and achieve another success by beating Uruguay 2-1 last week.
On the other hand, Los Canaleros are going through a nightmarish period, as they’ve lost six consecutive matches, including three successive defeats in Russia in the group stage. An awful World Cup performance seems to have further demoralized La Marea Roja who have lost two straight friendlies to Venezuela and Japan without scoring a goal. As things stand, Gary Stempel, who has replaced Hernan Gomez on the national team bench, may see his job slipping through his hands in case of another disappointing display.
Hamburger SV’s Hee-Chan Hwang and Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son are expected to spearhead South Korea’s attack, while Gabriel Torres of Huachipato and NK Istra’s promising forward Jose Rodriguez should represent the main threat to Seung-Gyu Kim’s goal.