South Korea's World Cup draw scenario has become much easier.
The result of the October A match was as important as the content. This is because the World Cup draw will be held in December. Ahead of the draw, it has not been disclosed at what point the FIFA rankings will be reflected, but it is very likely to be FIFA rankings after the October or November A-match.
Since the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the division of the draw ports of the tournament has been carried out according to FIFA rankings. The higher the ranking and higher the port, the lower the likelihood of death. In this draw, South Korea is very likely to enter the first two ports in history.
To be included in the two ports unconditionally, they must be in the top 23 FIFA rankings. This is because the U.S., Mexico and Canada will enter the first port as host countries of the tournament. The rest of the seats are in FIFA ranking order. Currently, Canada, which is virtually unlikely to be included in the top 24, is in the first port, so up to the 23rd place is a two-port fixed right. Depending on the European qualifying results, a lower ranking than 23rd may be included in the second port.
As of September's A-match, South Korea ranked 23rd. South Korea seemed less likely to make two ports as it suffered a 0-5 catastrophe against Brazil, but Austria's sluggish performance, which was previously ranked 22nd, revived its chances of entering two ports. However, Ecuador, ranked 24th, and Australia, ranked 25th, were fiercely chasing South Korea within 1.5 points, so they could not be relieved to enter the second port.
First of all, the South Korean national soccer A team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, won 2-0 in a friendly match against Paraguay at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 14th. With the win, South Korea is expected to add 2.08 points to its FIFA ranking, with the final score likely to be 1591.84 points.
Now we had to wait and see the results of Ecuador and Australia. First, Australia suffered a come-from-behind loss of 1-2 in an away match in the U.S. on the 15th. Australia, which pressed South Korea by 1.5 points with its victory over Canada, was forced to lose its score due to the defeat against the U.S.
Ecuador, which had only a 0.93 point gap with South Korea before the match against Paraguay, is also not expected to surpass South Korea. Ecuador won a 1-1 draw against Mexico. Ecuador, whose FIFA ranking is lower than Mexico, will increase its score as a result, but it is expected that it will not be able to surpass South Korea because it is a draw.
The only variable left in the A-match in October is Austria, which is on the verge of falling to 25th place. Austria will play against Cyprus, ranked 128th in FIFA rankings, in the European qualifiers for the World Cup. Although Austria is expected to win a complete victory, Cyprus' ranking is so low that even if Austria wins, it will not win many points. South Korea's first-ever entry into the two-port World Cup is really becoming a reality.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
