In the sixth of the eight last-16 ties at the 2022 World Cup, Brazil will continue their push for the trophy against South Korea.
The match will be played at Stadium 974 in Doha on Monday, December 5.
Clement Turpin has been appointed as the match referee. It will be the Frenchman’s third game of the tournament and his second involving South Korea after he was in charge of their goalless draw against Uruguay.
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In his two games so far, he has shown three yellow cards and awarded a penalty.
GO DEEPER
Brazil are back – but then that's the case at every World Cup, isn't it?
What time is Brazil vs South Korea?
The match kicks off at 10pm local time which means it will start at 7pm in the UK and the coverage will be shown on ITV.
In the US, FOX and Telemundo will be showing the match and kick off is at 2pm EST and 11am PT.
Those hoping to watch the match in Brazil will have to tune in at 4pm (BRT) while it will kick off at 4am in South Korea.
Team news
In the big team news, Neymar is looking likely to return to the Brazil starting XI for the last-16 clash. He has been back in training in the last couple of days and Tite is hoping to have his main man back for the entirety of the knockout stage, however long that might last.
Tite is poised to recall a number of players after ringing the changes for the unlikely defeat by Cameroon. In that match, Tite lost a couple of his players for the remainder of the tournament as Gabriel Jesus and Alex Telles picked up knee injuries.
Alex Sandro is also nursing an injury so Danilo — who sustained an ankle injury in the first game of the tournament — could be forced onto the opposite flank that he is used to.
Neymar’s time sat watching his team mates from the stands looks set to come to an end (Photo: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)Paulo Bento will also be hoping for one of his key players to return for this one. Kim Min-jae missed the win against Portugal as he was being rested in the hope that his team mates would do enough to make it into the knockouts.
Hwang Hee-chan came off the bench to prove his hamstring injury was a thing off the past as he fired South Korea into the last-16. Lee Kang-in and Kim Young-gwon were withdrawn in the last match but they should be fit to start.
Predicted line-ups
Brazil (4-2-3-1): Alisson, Militao, Marquinhos, Silva, Danilo; Casemiro, Paqueta; Raphinha, Neymar, Vinicius; Richarlison.
South Korea (4-2-3-1): Kim Seung-gyu, Kim Moon-hwan, Kim Min-jae, Kim Young-gwon, Kim Jin-su; Hwang In-beom, Jung Woo-young; Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min, Cho Gue-sung.
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The story so far
Brazil got their business done early in Group G so there was little riding on their final group game against Cameroon. A 2-0 win against Serbia and a 1-0 victory against Switzerland saw them into the knockouts with a game to spare.
In what may well have been his last World Cup game, Vincent Aboubakar condemned the Selecao to a narrow defeat. It didn’t knock Brazil out of top spot, however, so they face a last-16 tie against South Korea rather than one against Portugal.
As for South Korea, they were involved in one of the most tense endings to a 2022 World Cup match. They managed to beat Portugal and hold off Uruguay to ensure that Luis Suarez and co would fall at the first hurdle.
They left themselves needing to win against Fernando Santos’ side after a draw with Uruguay and a 3-2 defeat to Ghana in their other games.
This Hwang finish was the one that sent South Korea into the knockouts (Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)Players carrying yellow cards
Brazil: Fred, Eder Militao, Bruno Guimaraes.
South Korea: Cho Gue-sung, Jung Woo-young, Kim Young-gwon, Lee Kang-in, Hwang Hee-chan.
What’s at stake?
A place in the quarter-final.
It feels like anything less than a place in the final, perhaps even winning the World Cup, will not be enough for the people of Brazil. They are desperate for a record-extending sixth title and to have any chance of doing that, they will have to overcome South Korea here.
This is only the third time South Korea have made it beyond the group stage. They reached the semi-final when they hosted the tournament in 2002 while it was defeat at this stage in South Africa 12 years ago.
It will have to be some performance from Bento’s side for them to guarantee their second best finish at a World Cup but they certainly have a chance, especially with their manager returning to the touchline.
Prediction
Brazil to beat South Korea.
Brazil to win: 64%. South Korea to win 14%. Draw: 22%.
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To progress to the quarter-final: Brazil 77%, South Korea 23%.
All of our predictions for the 2022 World Cup are powered by Nielsen’s Gracenote, who have used a proprietary football ranking system to estimate the chances of different results for every possible match through extensive simulations, to assess the chances for each team to reach different stages of the tournament.
Who is likely to await in the next round?
The winner of this match will meet the winner of the last-16 tie between Croatia and Japan in the quarter-final.
Unfortunately, the mouth-watering prospect of an all-Asian clash seems unlikely as Brazil and Croatia are very highly-fancied to make it through these pair of last-16 games.
Should the Selecao progress, there remains a strong chance that they will meet Argentina in the semi-final.
Wider reading
Brazil have a real habit of turning up when it matters most: at the World Cup. Meanwhile, the people of South Korea have been allowed to dream with their side’s run to the knockouts.
Follow the latest Qatar World Cup news, analysis, tables, fixtures and more here.
(Top photo: Getty Images)
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