South Korea will face Iraq at a small stadium in the United Arab Emirates next month for a tune-up ahead of a crucial FIFA World Cup qualifier.
The Korea Football Association said Thursday that the venue and time for the South Korean men's national football team's friendly against Iraq have been confirmed. The match will take place at the 5,200-capacity Emirates Club Stadium in Ras al-Khaimah, northern UAE, and will kickoff at 9 p.m. on June 7, which will be 2 a.m. on June 8 in Seoul.
(Yonhap)
Iraq, No. 120 in the May FIFA rankings, originally wanted the match to be staged in their capital Baghdad, but the KFA has been insisting that it should be hosted in a third country due to safety reasons.
South Korea boast a superior head-to-head record against Iraq with seven wins, 10 draws and two losses. The two sides last met at the 2015 Asian Cup semfinal in Australia where South Korea collected a 2-0 win.
The friendly match is considered a tune-up for South Korea's upcoming World Cup qualifier against Qatar in Doha on June 13. With three matches remaining in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, South Korea are currently in second place, the last automatic qualification spot, in Group A with 13 points from four wins, one draw and two losses.
The Taeguk Warriors are four points behind leaders Iran and just one point above Uzbekistan. In Asia, only the top two from each of the two groups advance straight to the World Cup in Russia, while the two third-place teams will have to go through playoffs for the right to join the other four.
South Korea, world No. 43, announced their 24-man squad, which includes in-form Tottenham Hotspur attacker Son Heung-min and Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-yueng, on Monday for the matches in June.
They will assemble next Monday before departing for the UAE on June 3. (Yonhap)
