World Cup Group H: current form pours cold water on South Korea's knockout stage hopes

In what will be their tenth successive World Cup finals, South Korea will look to make it out of the group stages for only the third time in their history.

To do so, the Taeguk Warriors will need to negotiate their way past Uruguay, who knocked them out of the Round of 16 in 2010, before facing Ghana and Portugal, manager Paulo Bento’s home nation, in what is a strong group.

Their current form – which most recently includes defeat to Japan and a draw with Costa Rica in two of their last three games – pours cold water on a largely positive 2022 overall.

Until a 3-0 defeat to Japan, which lost them their EAFF E-1 crown in the East Asian Football Championship Final, South Korea had lost just once in seven matches, against Brazil.

They’ll need to replicate their earlier form if they’re going to follow their previous World Cup best, which came in 2002 when they secured a fourth-place finish when hosting the World Cup back in with Japan. At that stage, they were only the second team from outside Europe and the Americas to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. Sixteen years later, in Russia, they sent home reigning champions Germany.

Any hope they have of making a mark in Qatar rests on the form of Son Heung-min, one of the finest forwards in world football. However, there is a concern that Bento’s squad may be too reliant on their talisman, and that they’re yet to find a plan B should the Spurs striker misfire.

Moreover, in recent games, Son has played in attack and on the wing, suggesting Bento is yet to decide on his best use of the star before Qatar. And god forbid that Son goes on another dry spell in front of goal; when he recently went eight league games without finding the net before a hat-trick at Leicester, there