North Korea vs South Korea Predictions

North Korea play host to neighbours South Korea on Tuesday, as the pair both go in search of another win. By adopting a flamboyant, attacking approach, the South Koreans have made light work of winning their first two qualifiers, scoring ten goals in process, though the North Koreans, despite being less impressive, currently match them stride for stride in terms of points.

In two qualifying games, North Korea have scored three goals and conceded none, though they’ve not exactly been tested. Beating Lebanon didn’t exactly prove much, while it’s slightly disappointing that they could only beat the group’s weakest team (Sri Lanka) by a goal to nil last time out. In contrast, less than a week ago, South Korea battered Sri Lanka by eight goals to nil.

Scoring goals by the bucket load isn’t what North Korea do, or at least it hasn’t been of late, but they have looked reasonably sturdy at the other end of play. In their last three in all competitions, Tuesday’s hosts have conceded zero goals, while the fact that they’ve shipped expected goals figures of 0.07, 0.7 and 0.94 suggests that they’ve not only avoided conceding but that they’ve generally restricted their opponents to a limited number of chances. Doing so against a side of South Korea’s calibre won’t be easy, but at least the hosts have built themselves a solid platform.

While the North Koreans have delivered a few tame attacking efforts of late, South Korea have had no problem getting the ball in the net. They made light work of trouncing Sri Lanka last time out, scoring no less than eight in the process, while they went away from home and scored twice in what was a commanding win against Turkmenistan on match-day one.

It’s probably important not to read too much into the latest win of Paulo Bento’s men; they played at home and faced a side that is likely to pick up very few points in qualifying, but the fact that they’ve got the quality, with the likes of Heung-min Son, Kangin Lee and Hwang Hee-Chan in their ranks, to hurt teams cannot be ignored. In fact, it is their attacking quality that can make all the difference on Tuesday. For all North Korea have delivered some disciplined performances of late, they lack creative players such as those cited above.

Both teams have started the campaign in promising fashion, but thanks to their extra quality in the final third, South Korea, who’ve never lost against their neighbours, are backed to come out on top.

That said, we shouldn’t assume that the visitors will run riot. South Korea have been banging in the goals of late, but the hosts haven’t exactly performed as a side that is likely to take a hammering. Moreover, with more than two goals being scored in just two of the previous 12 meetings between the pair, this is traditionally a low-scoring affair. For those looking to get involved, ‘South Korea to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’ stands out as the best option.