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| 스포츠조선 DB |
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| 스포츠조선 DB |
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South Korea may play in the first two ports of the World Cup, but it is still a difficult journey.
Argentina's TyC Sports unveiled the expected composition of the 2026 North Korea-China World Cup draw port on the 17th (Korea time). The World Cup, which will be held in the three countries representing North and Central America, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will be drawn on December 5.
The allocation of the draw port for the World Cup finals will be determined by one port for the three host countries, and by FIFA rankings and regional playoff results. The three host countries will be allocated to the top seed, after which the remaining top nine countries will be in the same port, and the remaining ports will be filled with rankings. After that, four more teams will be named after the European Playpo.
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| APYonhap News |
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South Korea is currently ranked 23rd in the FIFA rankings, 2-0 against the U.S. in September's A-match, and held a 2-2 draw with Mexico, while other Asian countries such as Japan and Iran remained in the position while the ranking fell. If the current ranking is maintained, Korea is likely to be assigned to Port 2. If it takes 23rd place or higher, it is certain that it will keep its position in Port 2. It is the first time in history that Korea has been named in Port 2. Although there is an increase in the number of participating countries, it cannot be ruled out that they have consistently tried to maintain their strong position in Asia. South Korea finished the third Asian qualifying round for the North Korea-China World Cup undefeated and played an important schedule in the rankings.
It's clear that being assigned to a high port can be good news because you can't meet the strong teams in the same port that much. For South Korea, it cannot be said to have an advantage, but there are many expectations that the U.S. and Canada, which are relatively easy to compete, will meet in one port, and that groups containing weak players from each continent can be formed in the 3rd and 4th ports. It may save relatively much power to pass the group stage with countries such as Slovakia, Tunisia, and New Zealand that do not have a large difference in power.
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| APYonhap News |
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| APYonhap News |
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However, groups do not always go as expected. Even the worst match table is a good chance. The biggest variable is also European qualification. In Europe, only the first place in the group will go straight to the finals in the preliminary round. The second-place teams will compete for the final four spots in the playoffs. The problem is that there is a growing possibility that prominent countries in the European qualifiers will head to the four ports. Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, and Poland, which are struggling, are aiming for the position.
If they are in a group with a country that has passed the European playoffs, they cannot rule out the worst of being in a group with defending champions Argentina, South Korea, Norway and Italy. The Korean national team also has Son Heung-min, but it is suffocating to imagine that Lionel Messi and Elling Holan have to be stopped, and Italy's latch defense and Gianluigi Donnarumma have to be broken.
Fortunately, South Korea is considering such a situation and is considering various measures, including a three-back tactic to face strong teams, since September, when it began preparing for the World Cup in earnest. Hong Myung-bo's preparation is flowing into a process of preparing for everything from the best draw to the worst draw. Even the first two ports in history are not an easy road. Nevertheless, Hong Myung-bo, who is heading to the World Cup, maintained a good ranking and laid the foundation for the best results. Attention is also focusing on whether efforts will lead to good results in the draw.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
