SEOUL– The venues and kickoff times for South Korea’s World Cup qualifying matches at home next month were announced on Thursday.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said South Korea will host Iraq at 8 p.m. on Sept. 2 at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the nation’s capital. Then on Sept. 7, South Korea will face Lebanon at 8 p.m. at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, 45 kilometers south of Seoul.
These will be the first two matches for South Korean in Group A play during the third round of the Asian qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
There are two groups of six countries. After round robin play through March next year, the top two countries will qualify for the World Cup in Qatar. The two third-place teams will meet in a one-and-done playoff match in May 2022, and the winner will move on to the intercontinental playoff against a team from a region to be determined later.
South Korea have played at every World Cup since 1986, including as a co-host with Japan in 2002.
The Sept. 7 match was originally scheduled to take place in Lebanon, with the return leg set for South Korea in January next year. The two countries, though, agreed to switch the order of play, so as to avoid playing in cold January conditions in South Korea.
South Korea have a 7-11-2 (wins-draws-losses) record against Iraq and a 10-3-1 mark against Lebanon.
Other Group A nations are: Iran, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
Source: Yonhap News Agency