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South Korea vs Bahrain Predictions

  • 13:00
  • Expired
  • Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium
South Korea
Bahrain

odds when tipped

odds when tipped

South Korea vs Bahrain Predictions

It was all very easy for South Korea in the groups. Paulo Bento’s men barely got out of first gear when beating the Philippines by a goal to nil first time out, while they didn’t need to do too much more to beat either Kyrgyzstan or China. After three easy wins, one of the pre-tournament favourites will be looking to continue moving in the right direction.

The South Koreans will undoubtedly be pleased with this draw; they know that they’ve got the quality to hurt weak opposition, which is what Bahrain looked during the groups. Moreover, Bento’s men were convincing without breaking a sweat in each of their three group games, so it’s easy to feel that they’ve got a lot more to offer.

Even if South Korea don’t step it up on Tuesday, which they’re likely to, they’d probably still have enough in the tank to seriously hurt a Bahrain back-line that hasn’t looked particularly menacing at this tournament. As things stand, South Korea, who welcomed back one of the Premier League’s best attacking players in Heung-min Son ahead of match-day three, are averaging a very pleasing 2.38 expected goals for at the Asian Cup, which tells us that they’ve made light work of creating scoring opportunities. A reproduction of the 2.62 that they clocked against China last time out would almost certainly be enough to cruise through to the next round.

There were moments when Bahrain looked half-decent during the groups; they offered a forward threat at times against both UAE and India, though it must be said that they faced teams that are considerably weaker than South Korea, who’re undoubtedly one the best footballing sides at this tournament. Moreover, the fact that Bahrain found it tough to contain both UAE and Thailand tell us that they’ll struggle massively to stop a South Korean side that is not short of attacking quality.

On match-day one, despite drawing, Bahrain conceded 1.84 expected goals and looked decidedly shaky when UAE applied pressure to their back-line. Such a performance does not bode well. Much of the same can be said for their defeat against Thailand, who’ve just been knocked out by a Chinese side that was easily beaten by South Korea last weekend.

Quite simply, the South Koreans have far more to offer than their opponents on Tuesday, at both ends of the pitch. A disparity in quality is expected to be apparent right from the word go and punters can profit by backing ‘South Korea -1 Handicap’. Bento’s side are yet to concede a goal at this tournament and Bahrain have shown nothing to suggest that they can put the Reds under enough pressure to find the back of the net, while South Korea have more than enough forward quality to hurt an opposing back-line that has looked shaky against lesser attacks.

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