Wales vs South Korea betting tips, best bets and international friendly preview
Football betting tips: Wales v South Korea
1pt Draw at 23/10 (General)
Kick-off time: 19:45, Thursday
TV channel: S4C, BBC iPlayer, Viaplay Online
Home 8/5 | Draw 21/10 | Away 17/10
- @MickeyBeardmore has recorded +23.7pts profit in the opening weeks of the football season
Whether you've been in the job for three years, for six months or even for just five minutes, there's no getting away from the pressures of being a football manager at international level.
Carrying the entire burden of a nation on your shoulders, you can be a genius one month and a clueless clown the next - and while you've got thousands of fans to contend with at club level, that becomes millions when managing a country.
Few will know better right now how quickly the gamut of opinions can change than Robert Page - the first Wales manager to lead the Dragons to a World Cup in 64 years, and only the second ever.
But after the Welsh followed up an underwhelming group-stage exit in Qatar with a mixed start to European Championship qualifying - a 4-2 home defeat to Armenia in June arguably the nadir of Page's three-year reign - the claws are out.
Is Wales' poor run as bad as it looks?
After their heavy last-16 defeat by Denmark at the delayed Euro 2020 tournament held in 2021, Page's Wales soon got back on track with a run of just one loss in 11 as they achieved that historic qualification for Qatar 2022.
But since clinching their spot by beating Ukraine in a play-off 15 months ago, they have bottomed out, winning just one of their subsequent 12 matches and losing eight ahead of Thursday's friendly with South Korea.
However, Page argues his detractors are not factoring the quality of opposition during that sequence into the equation - and, from a neutral perspective, it's hard to disagree with his point.
The Dragons were victims of their own success in some ways, having achieved promotion to the top tier of the Nations League and finding it a little too hot to handle, picking up just one point from six games.
But even then, they were hardly outclassed - they drew 1-1 at home to Belgium and all five defeats, two to Poland, two to the Netherlands and one to the Belgians, were all by a single goal.
“This stat of one win in 12 keeps getting thrown at me, which frustrates the life out of me,” Page said recently.
“When you strip that away you see the opposition – playing Belgium, Holland and Poland twice because we got promoted from League B to League A in the Nations League and some were played around a World Cup play-off final.
“So, let’s have a little bit of common sense with some of the fixtures we were up against and manage expectations."
He's right, of course - and Wales supporters, perhaps spoiled by the relative successes under Page, Ryan Giggs and Chris Coleman, might do well to recall the barren decades prior.
The caveat, though, is that the quality of opposition has dropped in the past three matches – all Euro 2024 qualifiers that saw Wales nervily squeeze past Latvia before before being humbled by Armenia and losing in Turkey.
And that's before we mention the World Cup calamities that saw the Welsh score just once in three games, lose 2-0 to Iran and finish bottom of their group.
With no Gareth Bale to call on for heroics any more, Page – who only signed a new four-year deal with the FAW last year – needs those summer setbacks to be only a blip.
“We’ve lost arguably one of the world’s best players in Gareth Bale, some big characters on the playing side in Chris Gunter and Joe Allen, and now it’s about developing and evolving," he added.
“My remit now is to get the next batch of young kids through and it’s not going to happen overnight. Of course we don’t want too many results like Armenia – that is the one that has haunted me.
“It’s probably the first test I’d have had since I’ve taken over. Everything’s been rosy – we’ve had success, promotions and qualifications."
Klinsmann's Korea career careering badly
At least Page has had the glory days - South Korea boss Jurgen Klinsmann would pine for such memories after a pretty inconspicuous start to life as manager of the Asian heavyweights.
Korea provided their now-seemingly-standard World Cup shock in Qatar by beating Portugal in the group stages, after earlier holding Uruguay, before bowing out to Brazil in the last 16.
However, since replacing the successful outgoing head coach Paulo Bento in March, Germany and Tottenham legend Klinsmann is yet to register a win in four games, despite all being played at home.
He began with a creditable draw against Colombia but defeats to Uruguay and Peru, followed by a draw with minnows El Salvador, have left the 59-year-old under fire.
It might only be a friendly but he can ill afford another loss - and the same can be said of the man in the opposite dugout so the DRAW has to be the play here at an attractive price of 23/10 generally considering the bookies cannot separate the sides.
Score prediction: Wales 1-1 South Korea (Sky Bet odds: 5/1)
Odds correct 1500 BST (06/09/23)
Match facts
- This is the first ever international meeting between Wales and South Korea.
- Wales last faced an Asian nation at the 2022 World Cup, losing 2-0 to Iran. Before that, they beat China PR 6-0 in the China Cup in March 2018.
- Wales have won just one of their last 12 matches in all competitions (D3 L8), a 1-0 home win over Latvia in March in a European Championship qualifier.
- South Korea are winless in their last five matches (D2 L3) since beating Portugal 2-1 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
- Wales have won just four of their last 21 friendly matches (D7 L10) and none of their last four (D3 L1) since a 1-0 home win over Mexico in March 2021.
- Since scoring 10 consecutive goals from open play between September 2020 and March 2021, only 14 of Wales’ last 30 goals have been netted in open play (47%), their other 16 goals coming via corners (6), penalties (5), throw-ins (2) and free-kicks (3).
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