Kick-off: 1300, 24/11/2022
Stadium: Education City Stadium
TV: BBC
Group H at Qatar 2022 looks one of the most intriguing and Uruguay will look to make a positive start as they bid to reach the knockout stages for a fourth successive World Cup.
La Celeste were the best of the rest in South American qualifying behind heavyweights Brazil and Argentina and are favourites to make a winning start here.
We’re backing them to be ahead at both half-time and full-time at 37/20 as our opening Uruguay vs South Korea prediction.
Uruguay Odds
It is 72 years since Uruguay last won the World Cup and few would expect them to add a third title in Qatar.
Having missed out on three of the four World Cups between 1994 and 2006 and been knocked out at the group stage in 2002 though, their recent record is an impressive one.
They beat South Korea 2-1 on their way to the semi-finals in 2010, reached the round of 16 in Brazil in 2014 and made it to the quarter-finals four years ago in Russia.
In qualifying, they failed to take a point off Brazil or Argentina but were otherwise impressive and ended their campaign with four straight wins.
They have since put three goals past Mexico and five past Panama in June friendlies and certainly carry a goal threat in Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez and Liverpool new boy Darwin Nunez.
September’s 2-0 triumph over Canada in Slovakia was another encouraging effort, with Nunez on target.
Only the bottom four teams in the South American group conceded more goals in qualifying though, so a win and both teams to score appeals at 7/2 in the Uruguay vs South Korea odds.
South Korea Odds
South Korea only appeared at the World Cup finals once before 1986 but have now made it to 10 successive tournaments.
Only twice have they made it out of their group though, and one of those was when they were co-hosts in 2002, so they are up against it if they want to make an impact in Qatar.
They finished runners-up to Iran in their qualifying group and have a squad largely made up of players who ply their trade in their homeland.
Olympiacos striker Hwang Ui-jo is likely to lead the line and scored in a friendly against Brazil in June, although that ended in a 5-1 thrashing.
The star man is undoubtedly Tottenham’s Son Heung-min, who shared the Premier League golden boot with Mo Salah last season.
He is unlikely to get his hands on the top scorer prize at the World Cup but is capable of unlocking most defences and netted in September warm-up games versus Costa Rica (2-2) and Cameroon (1-0).
Unfortunately for his team, Uruguay look to have the edge in quality as they have done in five of their six meetings this century, so a 2-1 victory for the South Americans at 8/1 completes our Uruguay vs South Korea betting tips.
Additional stats
Head-to-head: South Korea 2-1 Uruguay, South Korea 0-1 Uruguay, Uruguay 2-1 South Korea, South Korea 0-2 Uruguay
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