South Korea vs Germany Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

South Korea came into this World Cup hoping to recreate the stunning performance they put in on home soil back in 2002. They made it all the way to the semi finals that year against all the odds, but this year they won’t be going any further than the group stages.

They lost 1-0 to Sweden in their opening game in a match that was more entertaining for it’s antics off the pitch rather than on it. South Korea manager Shin Tae-yong accused Sweden of spying on their training sessions and decided to tell his players to swap shirts in order to confuse the spy. It didn’t have the desired effect though.

South Korea offered next to nothing going forward in that game and deservedly lost 1-0, and whilst the move of Son Heung-min to a striker position did improve their attacking play against Mexico, it again wasn’t enough. Mexico won 2-1, dumping South Korea out of the World Cup but giving them fond memories of a stunning strike by Son to look back on.

That being said, the biggest disappointment of Group F has been the underwhelming showings put in by Germany. They shockingly lost their opener against a Mexico side who proved devastating on the counter attack, and their performance against Sweden wasn’t much better.

They went behind in the first half, but the Swedes sat back in the second half and this proved to be their downfall. Marco Reus levelled the scores, and despite Jerome Boateng getting sent off they continued to push players forward against a Sweden side who seemed disinterested in challenging their back line. A fantastic strike from Toni Kroos granted Germany a last ditch winner.

Qualification isn’t wrapped up for Germany yet though. They sit 2nd in the group on head to head record, three points adrift of group leaders Mexico. A win for Germany here would guarantee them qualification, but anything else would leave them open to being leapfrogged by Sweden.

South Korea might not offer much going forward, but they are organised at the back. This could frustrate Germany, and considering they haven’t been ahead at half-time in either of their matches so far, we think there’s a good chance of it being level at the break. Germany should be able to take the points though, so we’re backing a Draw/Germany Half-Time/Full-Time result.

The 2014 World Cup champions haven’t been up to par going forward this year, scoring just two goals in two games. All four of these teams’ combined fixtures have seen fewer than four goals scored, so we’re also backing a Germany Win and Under 3.5 Goals along with a 2-0 correct score predictions.

Marco Reus came into the starting lineup to replace Mesut Ozil against Sweden and offered much more than the Arsenal playmaker. He had a few chances thrown his way and managed to score one of them, and we think he’s a good price to score again here.

South Korea Predicted Lineup: Cho, Y. Lee, Jang, Y. Kim, M. Kim, Ju, Ki, Moon, J. Lee, Hwang, Son

Germany Predicted Lineup: Neuer, Kimmich, Sule, Hummels, Hector, Gundogan, Kroos, Muller, Draxler, Reus, Werner