Uruguay have a few of world soccer’s largest names, however South Korea have Son Heung-min.
Who: Uruguay vs South Korea, Group H
The place: Training Metropolis Stadium
When: Thursday, November 24, at 4pm (13:00 GMT)
FIFA rating: Uruguay (14), South Korea (28)
The opening recreation in Group H stands out as the one which resolves a query that’s on the minds of many: Who’s going to affix Portugal from the group in shifting into the spherical of 16?
The fourth workforce within the group, Ghana’s Black Stars, are ranked 61 on the planet and aren’t favoured to make it out of the primary spherical. And Cristiano Ronaldo will, barring some form of pure catastrophe, be steering his Portuguese aspect into the knock-out phases in his fifth and certain remaining bid to elevate the World Cup.
Which means the remaining place is prone to be determined in a bit of over 90 minutes on Thursday.
This recreation would possibly hinge on Edinson Cavani. The lean Valencia ahead, previously of Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, is among the many most interesting strikers of his technology, netting greater than 200 membership targets and 58 in an Uruguay shirt.
And Cavani is joined on Uruguay’s entrance line by Luis Suarez, who’s at all times hungry for a chew of glory – when he isn’t chomping on opponents. All whereas Darwin Núñez of Liverpool may also be combating for a spot in coach Diego Alonso’s most well-liked two-striker formation.
Most of Uruguay’s nationwide squad play outdoors of the nation: 12 play in high European leagues. Nacional team-mates Suarez, defender Jose Luis Rodriguez and goalkeeper Sergio Rochet are the one gamers of Uruguay’s 26-man squad to play in Uruguay.
Against this, 13 of South Korea’s gamers play of their nation. The query is: Does people’ expertise of top-quality European soccer depend for greater than the workforce cohesion achieved by way of a squad centred on a home league?
Son Heung-min, of South Korea and Tottenham, in the meantime, is a person who will be counted on to ship for his nation in massive video games. Exemptions from army service are provided to South Korean athletes who win gold on the Asian Video games. Main his workforce to the 2018 remaining, with the stress on, Son supplied each pinpoint goal-assists in South Korea’s 2-1 victory over Japan.
9 from that 2018 Asian Video games squad have joined captain Son in Qatar, together with Olympiacos team-mates Hwang In-beom and Hwang Ui-jo. This can be a workforce whose bonds stretch past any pitch.
For Uruguay, any end result apart from a win can be a disappointment. However South Korea, who knocked defending world champions Germany out of the 2010 World Cup, have proven they’ll trigger an upset. And one workforce from Asia has already surprised a South American large on this World Cup. Will there be a repeat on Thursday?