After beating Serbia in a friendly game few days ago, South Korea will be looking to continue the rich vein of form with another victory over top African side. Ghana beat Congo in the AFCON qualifier on Friday with Black Stars also hoping to continue the great run of results.

Red hot South Korea

South Korea have emerged as one of the best Asian sides over the last decade and they have already proved they have enough quality to match even the best national teams. Cho Kwang-Rae’s side largely impressed in the friendly game against Serbia on Friday, completely outclassing their opponents, with the game showing that South Korea now boast an excellent squad of players. Without any real stars in the side, team’s biggest quality is that every single player is fully dedicated to team’s cause, while their aggressive tactics is usually the key to winning the games. Korea played a great game against Serbia and should have won by a bigger margin, so there is every reason to expect another convincing performance from the hosts.

Park Ji-Sung has retired from international football, but star players Lee Chung-Yong, Ki Sung-Yong and Park Chu-Young will be in the side.

Ghana in good form

Following the impressive showing at the World Cup in South Africa, the Black Stars continued playing well under new coach Goran Stevanovic, although goalless draws against Sudan and Saudi Arabia proved this side still lack some consistency. Ghana have edged one step closer to qualifying for the African Nations Cup by beating Congo 3:1 at home and they are now set to test their skills against very good Korea side. Coach Stevanovic faces some selection issues after no less than seven players failed to make the flight for Korea, but he will still be able to field a pretty good side. The absence of key players could disrupt the balance of the squad, although some back-up players will now get a chance to shine.

John Mensah, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Michael Essien, Prince Tagoe, Andre Ayew, Samuel Inkoom and Sammy Adjei have all withdrawn from the squad.

Verdict

Having watched South Korea vs Serbia game, I have to say I was thoroughly impressed by the Koreans and I really believe they can win this game as well. The visitors will be tired from the long journey and will be without several important players, so home win looks like a good choice here.

Our prediction: Home win

Odds: 2.05 (21/20)

Bookmaker: 888Sport