Korea currently in control of its World Cup destiny

By John Duerden

Last Tuesday, South Korea was 14 minutes away from its best results since that 2-0 win over Germany at the?2018 World Cup. In its seven previous visits to Iran, the team had never returned back home victorious, and few thought that would change last week. It didn't, but it almost did.

In the fourth game of the final round of qualification for the 2022 World Cup, Korea headed to Tehran with seven points from the first three games to meet Iran, Group A leader with the maximum nine points.

After a quiet first half at an empty Azadi Stadium (a much more comfortable prospect for visitors than the usual 100,000 who await the Koreans), Son Heung-min opened the scoring. Three minutes into the second half, the Tottenham Hotspur star ran on to a through pass from Lee Jae-sung, to curl the ball around goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.

Until then, Iran had not been its usual aggressive and hard-working self. Son's goal not only opened the prospect of a famous win and, more importantly, of reaching the top of Group A, thus taking a huge step towards the World Cup.?

Yet, the goal woke Iran up, as Korea immediately sat back, looking to protect the lead. The home team started to find opportunities and equalized with 14 minutes remaining. It was helped by some terrible defending, and then Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored. In the end, Korea was happy to go home with a point.

Overall, it was a decent performance and an improvement on the three games previously against Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, which had all taken place back in Korea.

As things stand, Iraq stays in first with ten points, Korea is second with eight and Lebanon in third with five. Then come the UAE and Iraq with three points each and Syria in last place with a single point.

Now the question is whether this match can be a turning point in the campaign. Fortunately, other results have been decent. The United Arab Emirates and Iraq, the two teams that were expected to challenge Iraq and Korea for the top two automatic places in the group, drew 2-2 in Dubai.

November's games are huge. The first is a home game for the UAE, which is followed by a trip to Iraq. Win those two and Korea will virtually be at the World Cup, as these two teams are the biggest threats to automatic qualification.

The two meetings will be against well-known Dutch coaches. The UAE is led by Bert van Marwijk. He led the Netherlands to the final of the 2010 World Cup and a loss to the all-conquering Spain team. He also knows Asia well, after spells in charge of Saudi Arabia and Australia. Under van Marwijk, the UAE was improving, but it has started this round of qualification slowly. The Whites can't afford to lose in Korea if the target is to finish in the top two and return to the global stage for the first time since 1990.

The same is the case with Iraq, looking to return to the World Cup for the first time since 1986. Dick Advocaat, who was in charge of Korea from 2005 to 2006, has not been able to make much of a difference yet. There is at least a chance that the game with Korea will take place on home soil, the first competitive game to do so since 2011. If so, it will be a tough trip for the Taeguk Warriors.

At the moment however, South Korea has its World Cup fate in its own hands, and if major mistakes are avoided, all should be fine.