SEOUL– South Korea will take on pesky rivals Iran in the next qualifying round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The draw for the final round in the Asian qualifying for the 2022 World Cup took place Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A dozen teams were paired into two groups of six, and each group contained one team from each of the six pots, which were determined by the special FIFA seedings for Asia released on June 18.
South Korea, world No. 39, will be in Group A with Iran (31st), Iraq (68th), the United Arab Emirates (73rd), Syria (79th) and Lebanon (93rd).
Group B countries are: Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Oman and Vietnam.
The final round, pushed back by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will run from September this year to March next year. South Korea’s first match will be Sept. 2 against Iraq.
It will be followed by: Lebanon on Sept. 7, Syria on Oct. 7, Iran on Oct. 12, the UAE on Nov. 11, Iraq on Nov. 16, Lebanon on Jan. 27, Syria on Feb. 1, Iran on March 24 and the UAE on March 29.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the World Cup. The two third-place countries will compete in a one-and-done playoff match next May or June. The winner will then move on to the intercontinental playoffs against a team from a confederation to be determined later.
South Korea have played at every World Cup since 1986, including as a co-host with Japan in 2002.
Coached by Paulo Bento, South Korea have a 9-9-13 (wins-draws-losses) record against Iran, including four losses and two draws in their past six meetings.
South Korea have gone 12-5-2 against the UAE, 7-11-2 against Iraq, 4-3-1 against Syria and 10-3-1 against Lebanon.
In an online interview following the draw, Bento called Group A “a difficult and a balanced group.” He said he was ready to accept the draw for what it was and move on to his preparation rather than dwell on it.
“We should know as well that the last two qualifiers, 2014 and 2018, the (South Korean) team had a lot of difficulties to qualify,” Bento said. “I think that is a good experience for us. We learned from what happened in the past.”
Bento also declined to offer strengths of his squad as compared to others, saying, “The most important thing is to think about what we can do and what we can develop with our players. It’s not good to compare our team and our players with our opponents.”
There will be pressure on South Korea to extend their string of World Cup appearances, and Bento said he’s accustomed to high expectations from fans here.
“The pressure for the coaches will be present every time, in all the moments,” he said. “This is one more moment to compete and to enjoy. Respecting all the teams in our group, we’ll try to do our best and achieve our goal.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency