South Korea will set out to preserve their unbeaten World Cup qualifying campaign in its final chapter when they welcome Kuwait to the Seoul World Cup stadium on Tuesday.

The away side, meanwhile, head to the Korean capital aiming to arrest a slump in form which has seen them lose four of their last five matches across all competitions.

Match preview

After their disappointing Asian Cup semi-final exit to Jordan, South Korea had only one objective, which was to secure an 11th straight ticket for football's biggest tournament and a 13th in general to maintain their lead at the top of World Cup finals participated in by Asian teams.

Hong Myung-bo's men made light work of China, Thailand and Singapore in the second round, winning all but one of their six matches and picking up 16 of 18 available points heading into the all-decisive third qualifying phase.

The Tigers of Asia saw their third-round journey get off to a slow start following a goalless stalemate against Palestine before they responded with four straight wins to all but get the job done by matchday five.

Three straight 1-1 draws between November and March looked to have slowed down South Korea, but normal service resumed for the Taegeuk Warriors last time out courtesy of a 2-0 triumph over Iraq.

Jin-kyu Kim and Hyun-gyh Oh were on target for South Korea to maintain their three-point advantage over Jordan at the top of Group B with 19 points from nine matches ahead of Tuesday's closing fixture.

With the EAFF E-1 Football Championship around the corner, Tuesday's hosts will be keen to keep building momentum, and avoiding defeat for a 14th consecutive game would go a long way towards achieving that.

Having come from behind late on to snatch a point in their opening third-round qualifier against Jordan, Kuwait made an encouraging start to proceedings, but nine games down the line, they still await their first victory.

Amid their World Cup qualifying struggles, Juan Antonio Pizzi's men made an appearance at the Arabian Gulf Cup, where they reached the semi-finals before bowing out to Bahrain following a 1-0 defeat.

That kicked off a run of four defeats from five matches either side of the new year, so it is no surprise to see Kuwait currently rock bottom of their qualifying group with only five points amassed from nine matches.

Alongside North Korea, the Blue Waves are one of two teams still winless, and their chances of changing that in Tuesday's affair are a long shot, having lost five straight clashes against their upcoming opponents.

More worryingly for the away side, they have not won a competitive game as a visiting team since 2023, although they did manage to hold Iraq to a 2-2 draw in their most recent encounter on the road back in March.

South Korea World Cup Qualifying - Asia form:

Kuwait World Cup Qualifying - Asia form:

Kuwait form (all competitions):

Team News

Substitutes Jin-kyu Kim and Hyun-gyh Oh made the most of their cameo appearances against Iraq by finding the back of the net, and at least one of them should be handed a starting nod here.

Feyenoord midfielder Hwang In-Beom will be looking to deliver the goods once again after putting on a display of the highest quality for the home side en route to victory last time out.

Kuwait's Yousef Nasser came off injured on the stroke of half time against Palestine on Thursday, and it remains to be seen whether the forward will be back in time to feature here.

Should Nasser be deemed unfit to participate, Abdulrahman Al Rashidi is the favourite to come into the visitors' lineup for what would be only a second appearance with the senior team.

South Korea possible starting lineup:

Jo; T Lee, Kwon, Jo, Seol; Park, I Hwang; H Hwang, J Lee, K Lee; Oh

Kuwait possible starting lineup:

Al Rashidi; Ghanam, Al-Enezi, Al-Hajeri, Dosari; Al-Dhefiri, Hani; Majed, Al-Mutar, Daham; Nasser

We say: South Korea 3-1 Kuwait

South Korea are overwhelming favourites to come out on top here, and barring an extraordinary turn of events, the home side should carry the day.

We fancy them to claim a fairly routine win and sign off on their qualifying campaign with maximum points.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Adepoju Marvellous

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