FIFA World Cup: South Korea vs Germany preview

South Korea and Germany play for qualification from FIFA World Cup Group D, both teams have their chances of pushing through ahead of their clash on Wednesday at Kazan Arena. The last time these two teams met was in a friendly match in 2004, which South Korea won 3-1. They have also met at the 1994 and 2002 World Cup final tournaments, and Germany won both meetings. The 2002 clash was in the semi-finals of the final tournament in Korea and Japan and Germany pushed through to the final thanks to a 1-0 victory. South Korea had been hoping for better results at the 2018 World Cup, they ended up losing their first two matches but they are still in with a chance to qualify for the next round. They started with a 1-0 defeat against Sweden and then lost 2-1 to group leaders Mexico, but if they beat Germany they could still finish second in Group D. Moreover, if South Korea beat Germany 1-0 and Sweden lose to Mexico by the next score, all three teams will be tied on three points with the same goal difference. Park Joo-Ho is the only injury concern for the Koreans. Germany were on the brink of elimination last week, they started with a 1-0 defeat against Mexico and then were 1-0 down at half time against Sweden in their second match. Somehow they fought back and eventually won the match against Sweden thanks to a 95th-minute goal from Toni Kroos, but they need to get all three points against South Korea as well to make sure they qualify to the next round. Jerome Boateng got sent off against Sweden and is suspended for this match, while Mats Hummels and Sebastian Rudy are injury doubts. Probable line-ups: South Korea: Hyun-Woo - Yong, Hyun-Soo, Young-Gwon, Min-Woo - Sung-yueng, Se-Jong - Seon-Min, Jae-Sung, Hee-Chan - Heung-Min Germany: Neuer - Kimmich, Hummels, Rudiger, Hector - Gundogan, Kroos - Muller, Reus, Werner - Gomez My prediction: Germany to win 2-1, South Korea will put up a good fight but they won't be able to deny Germany. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: South Korea win - 17.00 Draw - 7.50 Germany win - 1.20