Sports Mole previews Thursday’s friendly clash between Wales and South Korea, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Wales and South Korea will both be desperate to claim a victory when they face off in a friendly at the Cardiff City Stadium on Thursday.
The hosts are hoping to bounce back from consecutive defeats, while South Korea are still searching for the first victory of Jurgen Klinsmann’s tenure.
Match preview
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Thursday’s fixture may only be a friendly encounter, but Wales boss Rob Page will be eager to pick up a victory after seeing his position called into question following a poor start to their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
The early signs were actually positive after Wales scored a late equaliser to take a point off Croatia before they claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Latvia.
However, a surprise 4-2 home defeat to Armenia and a 2-0 loss away to Turkey have left Wales in fourth position in Group D and pile the pressure on Page.
Having won just two of their last 15 internationals (D4, L9), Wales will be keen to restore an element of belief before they travel to Latvia for Monday’s Euro 2024 qualifier.
However, the Dragons will be discouraged by the fact they are winless in four friendly matches (D3, L1) since beating Mexico 1-0 in March 2021.
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South Korea will be targeting their first win since edging out Portugal in the 2022 World Cup group stage when they travel to Cardiff this week.
Since being eliminated by Brazil at the last-16 stage, South Korea have experienced a change in manager after Klinsmann was named as Paulo Bento’s successor.
The former USA boss has experienced a rocky start to his tenure, which began with a 2-2 draw against Colombia, before South Korea were beaten by Uruguay and Peru.
The 59-year-old looked set to finally claim his first victory as South Korea manager when Hwang Ui-jo opened the scoring in June’s friendly with El Salvador, but Alex Roldan levelled the scoreline in the 87th minute to leave Klinsmann waiting for his maiden win.
Having conceded in each of their last eight internationals, the Taegeuk Warriors need to shore up defensively if they are to return to winning ways in their next two friendlies against Wales and Saudi Arabia.
Wales friendly form:
Wales form (all competitions):
South Korea friendly form:
South Korea form (all competitions):
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Team News
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Wales are unable to call upon the services of Tom Lockyer and Dan James, who are both ruled out through injury.
Rangers forward Rabbi Matondo, who has 11 caps to his name, has been called up after being left out of Page’s initial squad.
The Wales boss has also included the uncapped trio of Tom King, Morgan Fox and Liam Cullen, while Josh Sheehan has been recalled to the squad for the first time since 2021.
As for South Korea, Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in has stayed with his club, as he continues to recover from a muscular injury which has kept him out of his side’s last two Ligue 1 matches.
Klinsmann has called up the uncapped quartet of Kim Jun-hong, Kim Ji-soo, Lee Soon-min and Yang Hyun-jun.
Son Heung-min will captain his country, and he will be in a confident mood after scoring a hat-trick in Tottenham Hotspur’s 5-2 win over Burnley at the weekend.
Wales possible starting lineup:Ward; Roberts, Mepham, Rodon, Williams; Ampadu, Ramsey; Brooks, Wilson, Broadhead; Moore
South Korea possible starting lineup:Seung-gyu; Young-woo, Seung-hyun, Min-jae, Ki-jee; Hee-chan, Yong-woo, In-beom, Jae-sung; Ui-jo, Heung-min
We say: Wales 1-1 South Korea
The two nations will be looking to leave Cardiff City Stadium with a victory, but with both teams lacking in confidence, we think they could play out a cagey draw in the Welsh capital.For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data
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