Group A of Asian World Cup Qualifying will see South Korea and Iran start heavy favourites to make the finals in Brazil, which is unsurprising given the World Cup pedigree of South Korea and to a lesser extent Iran.
Group A of Asian World Cup Qualifying will see South Korea and Iran start heavy favourites to make the finals in Brazil, which is unsurprising given the World Cup pedigree of South Korea and to a lesser extent Iran.
South Korea have featured in the last seven FIFA World Cups since 1986 and famously finished fourth under Guus Hiddink at home in 2002.
Iran have don-t have the pedigree of the Koreans (their last two World Cups were 2006 and 1998) but they are known to be a tough side to beat whether home or away and their mental and physical toughness on the pitch is known to be a huge advantage
South Korea For Korea, finding the right combination in their talented midfield will likely be the key to the success, both in qualifying and in putting together a fresh team based on a new generation, no longer do they have the luxury of relying upon Park Ji Sung to drive them to greatness with the Manchester United workhorse now retired from the national team.
The weight of expectation has now fallen on the shoulders of Park Chu-Young, the Arsenal striker has a great record at international level with 25 goals from 59 games.
Iran Iran are determined to return to world football-s showpiece event under the guidance of Carlos Queiroz and with one of the best midfields in Asia they are capable of avenging the shock of not making the 2010 finals.
That midfield has captain Javad Nekounam and Masoud Shojaei controlling the plays and their ability to find players loose has proven to be brilliant all campaign, as the team have the best goal difference in Asia so far 22 for, five against, for a positive difference of 17.
Despite their slew of goals the team are sharing them around and do not have one player in the top ten of goalscorers in Asia, which could be either a great sign or a problem when it comes to needing a strong threat up front.
Uzbekistan If Iran are second favourites in the group then Uzbekistan are snapping at their heels, having shown themselves to be contenders in Asia of late as evidenced by finishing fourth at the 2011 Asian Cup, but more impressively they knocked off the Blue Samurai in the last round of qualifying and Could very realistically make the finals for the first time in Brazil.
Conceding just one goal in the last part of the campaign, their defence might be thought to be sound, but the form of national goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov looked decidedly shaky when Bunyodkor took on Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium, in fact he was hard-pushed to hold anything and looked very indecisive.
Lebanon Defensive discipline is all the rage for the Lebanese team, who have shocked many by getting this far in qualifying, and even shocked South Korea along the way, however while discipline is one thing their inability to score goals could hurt them, having netted just 14 times in qualifying so far.
Their players to watch out for are captain and midfielder Roda Antar and also striker Mohammed Ghaddar.
Qatar The Qataris have been in inconsistent form since their quarter-final finish at the continental championship on home soil. But in the previous qualifying round, the Qataris proved themselves with a couple of creditable draws against Iran that eventually earned them a place in this stage.
While drawing with Iran is a solid result they will need to do better to progress to Brazil and simply don-t have the cattle, expect them to be the whipping boys of this group.