Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth, South Africa
On the 12th of June at 13.30 local time, South Korea and Greece will take part in their Group B clash at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
With Group B one of the toughest groups to call due to the diversity of the teams, all with their own merits, this match will be keenly observed. South Korea and Greece both have a history of being tournament dark horses, after South Korea’s impressive performance in the 2002 World Cup and Greece coming from seemingly nowhere to win Euro 2004.
This will be the second meeting between these two teams, as South Korea won with the only goal back in the 2006 meeting. Even so, it seems more uncertain than the Group B opener between Argentina and Nigeria. The odds for this game suggest a much higher degree of uncertainty than the other group game.
Greece qualified via the playoffs, beating the Ukraine to secure their place in South Africa, whereas South Korea, who are quickly becoming an established World Cup fixture, eased through their qualification campaign, though admittedly the Asian qualification route was somewhat less demanding than European opposition Greece faced,
The Greek team is just slightly favoured in the odds, with an outright win at 5/4. The draw is offered at 11/5, and South Korea at 23/10.
Odds on the scorelines also reflect this slight sway towards a Greece win from the bookies, with a Greek 1-0 offered at 5/1 with 7/1 the odds for South Korea to win by the same margin. A no score draw is 11/2 with one all at 9/2. To find competitive odds on this game, we would recommend Expekt or Bodog Sportsbook (US Friendly).
With both teams known for their success being more as a result of good coherence and organisation rather than an abundance of stars it is still worth noting that South Korea will be heavily reliant on Manchester United regular Park-Ji Sung, who could be a good choice for first goalscorer, and Greece on Celtic’s Samaras.
Prediction
This game really is difficult to call, with the styles of these teams very different but expectations for them comparable.
This game could easily end up in a draw, but it seems unlikely that it will be goalless given the quality of some of the goal scorers in the mix. For these reason, the prediction is a 1-1 draw, which is at 9/2 with the bookmakers.
Having said that, despite the bookies’ favouring of Greece, I can’t help but feel like if one team is going to tip this game out of a stalemate draw scenario, it could well be South Korea. Need more Group B predictions?
