World Cup: South Korea vs Nigeria Preview

TALENT

South Korea sits second place with three points and a -1 goal difference and Nigeria is not as far off as most would think but needs a win over South Korea and a Greece loss to Argentina will get them into the knockout stage. If Argentina beats Greece, South Korea can advance with a draw.

Nigeria has no choice here other than to attack and it should make for an interesting game to see if South Korea will be happy to defend or apply the pressure. The African nation lost its first two games by scores of 1-0 to Argentina and 2-1 to Greece. Nigeria needs somebody in attack to come alive. Yakubu Aiygenbeni is not their best attacking player but he appears to be Lars Lagerback’s only consistent selection at forward. The heat has been turned up in a serious way in Nigeria as Sani Kaita has reportedly receiving over 1,000 death threats since his sending off against Greece.

South Korean manger Huh Jung-Moo has said their 4-1 defeat against Argentina was a good lesson for his players and they have to learn from it for their match against Nigeria. South Korea will again be relying on captain and midfielder Park Ji-Sung to lead the way and hope that defender Lee Jung-Soo and midfielder Kim Jung-Woo can continue their fine play. Solving Nigeria can be easy with strong midfield play and that would enable South Korea to get the ball wide and take advantage of their strengths of Park Ji-Sung and Lee Chong-Yong attacking Nigeria’s fullbacks.

The teams have played each other three times with South Korea winning two and drawing the other, although none have come during World Cup play.

PICK: South Korea