South Korea vs Portugal - 2022 World Cup Betting Guide

South Korea Team Info – It’s All About Son Heung-min

South Korea qualified for the 2022 World Cup after finishing second in the AFC Group A qualifiers. After the first 4 games, where they won twice and drew twice, they then had 4 successive wins, and going into the last game they were 2 points ahead of Iran, who were in second place. Iran won their final game and South Korea lost to the United Arab Emirates, to finish in second place. They scored 13 goals in the qualifiers and only conceded 3 goals. The nation's best World Cup record came in 2002, when they hosted the event and managed to achieve a fourth place finish. More recently, they reached the round of 16 in 2010, but crashed out in the group stage in the World Cups of 2014 and 2018.

Almost all of the South Korean footballers play in the South Korean domestic league, the K League 1. This includes their defenders Kim Young-gwon, Kim Jin-su, Hong Chul; midfielders Kwon Chang-hoon and Na Sang-ho; and striker Cho Gue-sung. Their main goalkeeper, Kim Seung-gyu, plays in the Saudi Professional League. In defence, they also have Kim Min-jae, who plays for Napoli. In their midfield, they have Wolverhampton Wanderers player Hwang Hee-chan, as well as Jeong Woo-yeong, and Lee Jae-sung, who play in the Bundesliga. The main forward, and captain of South Korea, is Son Heung-min. He is a key player for Tottenham Hotspur, and for South Korea he has 33 goals from 102 appearances.

Portugal Team Info – It’s All About Ronaldo

Portugal qualified for the World Cup after finishing second in the UEFA Group A, and then proceeding to the Path C playoffs, where they beat Turkey and North Macedonia. In the group, they were up against Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, the Republic of Ireland, and Serbia. Portugal and Serbia were both racing for first place, and on the final day, they were tied on points but Portugal was ahead on goal difference. The last game was between Portugal and Serbia, and was played in Lisbon. Portugal took an early start, but Serbia equalised within the first half. With the scores level, it looked as if Portugal were going to remain in first place, but then in the 90th minute, Serbia scored one more to clinch the first place. Portugal then had to advance to the playoffs, but they did not struggle against either Turkey or Macedonia.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the most important player in the side. At the age of 37, he is still playing at the top level and he has 189 caps in which he has scored 117 goals for the team. The current Portuguese team has many other stars in it, which may give Ronaldo hope that he may be able to win a World Cup. The likes of Joao Felix, Diogo Jota, Joao Moutinho, Renato Sanches, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Neves, and Bruno Fernandes, play in the attack and midfield. In defence they have key players such as Pepe, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Diogo Dalot, and their goalkeeper, Rui Patricio.

South Korea vs Portugal Head-to-head

South Korea has only played against Portugal once. The two sides were drawn into the same group in the 2002 World Cup, in which South Korea was one of the co-hosting nations of the tournament. They beat Portugal 1-0, and finished first place in the group. Portugal crashed out of the competition after coming third in the group.

South Korea vs Portugal Betting Preview

Whether you want to bet on South Korea or Portugal, you will find that there are masses of bets available on this game. You may bet against the favourite, and bet on South Korea to win at long odds. The matchbet on Portugal to win will not have very long odds, but you can increase the odds by placing a bet on Portugal to win with a handicap, or on Portugal to win and Ronaldo to score. The choice of bets is massive, and here are some examples of what you can find.

Asian Handicap

Handicap betting is when you back a team to win the match by a certain margin of goals or more. You can pick this margin from the multiple negative numbers offered, each with increasingly longer odds. Alternatively, you can pick one of the positive handicaps offered and in this case the number will be added to the team’s score, but they will come at increasingly shorter odds.

If you bet on Portugal to win with a handicap of -2.5 then you will require them to finish the match 3 or more goals ahead of South Korea. If you pick a handicap of -3 then you will need Portugal to win by 4 or more goals, but you can receive a refund if they only manage to score 3 goals more than their opponent. This is because after the handicap is applied, the scores will be level and so your bet will be refunded.

If you pick a handicap of -2.75 then your stake will be divided in two, with half the stake going on a handicap of -2.5 and the other on a handicap of -3. If Portugal wins by 4 or more goals then the conditions of both halves of your bet will be met, so you will receive your full winnings. If Portugal only wins by 3 goals then the -2.5 part of your bet will pay in full, and the -3 part of your bet will be refunded.

Player Goals

You can check out the odds on which players will score during the match. If they are used in the starting lineup, you could be looking at the odds on Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix, Bernardo Silva, as well as South Korea’s Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, amongst the many top players who can feature in this match. You can also bet on which player will score the first and last goal in the match.

Over/Under Total Goals

With this bet you can put money on whether you think the match between South Korea and Portugal will have many goals, or whether it will only end with a few. You will have numerous betting lines to pick from, and there will be bets for over and under each one. If you pick a betting line such as 4.5 and bet under, then Portugal and South Korea should score a combined 4 goals or fewer. If you bet over that line, then you will need Portugal and South Korea to score a combined 5 goals or more.

And Far More

You will find that there are hundreds of bets that you can place on the match between South Korea and Portugal, and these can relate to various aspects of the match. Portugal to score in both halves, either team to score in the first 5 minutes, South Korea to win either half, South Korea to score the first goal, Portugal to reverse the result, both teams to score, Portugal to keep a clean sheet, Portugal to win by a margin of 3, are all a few examples of bets that you can make on this match.

When betting on matches in the World Cup then you should always keep track of how much money you spend. It can be tempting to place bets on every match and to try to win big, but there is just as much chance that you may lose and therefore you should only spend with money that you can afford to lose. If you need more information on responsible gambling then you can turn to organisations such as gambleaware.co.uk