Eden Hazard and Belgium close out their Group H World Cup play against a South Korea side that is all but eliminated. The Belgians sit atop the group, which also includes Russia and Algeria, with six points from two less-than-convincing victories: 2-1 against a stubborn Algeria side which showed its ability to pounce against South Korea, and 1-0 against Russia in what was supposed to be the match to decide the group, but was instead a dull stalemate. The Belgians have a lot to prove if they are to be the dark horse team that many pundits expected them to be before the tournament began.
Belgium has already qualified to the round of 16, but not yet as group winners. They will want to secure the first spot, as the runner up from this group will face the winner of Group G -- likely Germany. Prior to the tournament, many commentators and fans liked the prospect of Belgium advancing to later stages of the World Cup with quality young talent such as Hazard, Dries Mertens, Romelu Lukaku, Axel Witsel, and Marouane Fellaini. However, till now, they haven't quite showed the play that was expected of them. They went down 1-0 to Algeria in their opening match, only to come back with two second half goals from the boots of substitutes, and needed a late winner to seal all three points against a stubborn Russian side. All said, the team definitely has quite a bit of talent, but they seem disconnected and individualistic, and perhaps a bit over reliant on their star, Eden Hazard.
South Korea have largely disspointed in this World Cup. The team, coached by Hong Myung-bo, the legendary defender who took his country all the way to the semi-finals when they hosted the tournament in 2002, was demolished 4-2 in their last game against a surprisingly sharp Algeria side. The team will turn to forward Son Heung-min to finish scoring chances if they wish to have any shot of qualification -- Korea sit with a solitary point and dead last in the group, and will need to make up a goal difference of 3 goals to qualify ahead of Russia and Algeria, an unlikely scenario at best.
Overall, Belgium should dominate this match. Both Algeria and Russia gave them problems going forward, but Korea has not proven that it is able to score goals or create sufficient attacking chances to stay in tight games. The Belgians possess many more quality players, and maybe it will take a game against a weak side like Korea to see their full potential. But as Korea is in a dire situation, maybe they will display the quality performance that they have yet to show thus far in this tournament.
The game is set to kick off at 4:00 PM EST at the Arena de Sao Paulo in Sao Paolo. It can be seen on ESPN and Univision. For those of you who will be at work and won’t be able to get to a TV, WatchESPN will be streaming all live games directly from here and if you prefer to live stream the game in Spanish, you can enjoy that broadcast here. Enjoy the final Group H showdown as it will surel to please.
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