South Korea v Belgium: Watertight Devils to pull plug on Warriors
Published:Group H leaders and World Cup dark horses Belgium may have found it hard to break into a gallop in the early stages, but when you are blessed with a formidable defence the rest will usually fall into place.
Below are our three best bets for this pivotal encounter.
Marc Wilmots may have secured the Red Devils a place in the last 16 already with six points from two opening games, but the Belgium boss won’t be taking South Korea lightly (who could technically get through) while Algeria could yet leapfrog the Europeans on goal difference.
When the chips were down against Algeria in their opener, this star-studded Belgian squad showed real character to come from behind to win and if the Algerians could open up the Taegeuk Warriors at will, then Eden Hazard and co should do some damage.
With Manchester City’s man mountain Vincent Kompany and ultra-experienced Daniel van Buyten anchoring the defence, Belgium are built on rock-solid foundations.
The Devils have only been breached once in Brazil and only twice during their latest five-game winning streak.
Of their last five defeats, the Koreans have failed to register in four of them.
At least one Belgium striker is making a name for himself at this World Cup, no prizes for guessing it’s not Romelu Lukaku, hauled off before the hour mark in both opening games.
Meanwhile, Mertens has carried over his late-season goal-scoring form for Napoli – where he notched six in his last eight appearances – into the finals, to smash home the winner against Algeria.
The diminutive forward is a great price to open the scoring as a result.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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