Graham Arnold has made four changes to his Socceroos squad from the 4-0 mauling of Indonesia as they take on South Korea at 2:30am (AEDT) for a spot in the semi finals.
Craig Goodwin, Mitchell Duke, Nathaniel Atkinson and Connor Metcalfe have all been brought back into the squad as Arnold plots to bring down the world No. 23.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
It means Jordan Bos, Riley McGree and Bruno Fornaroli all drop to the bench, while Gethin Jones misses out entirely after suffering a groin injury in the win over Indonesia.
Goodwin earned a recall after his stunning cameo against Indonesia, scoring and setting up a goal in the space of four minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Metcalfe comes in place of McGree who had impressed when coming off the bench but struggled to make an impact when starting.
MORE COVERAGE
‘He said those exact words’: How Ange’s bold halftime call sparked ‘extraordinary’ comeback
‘Get into a UFC cage and see how brave they are’: Why Ange is ‘not a fan’ of PL stars’ antics
Duke is back in the side after recovering from a hamstring injury he sustained during Australia’s 1-0 win over Syria in the group stages.
As for South Korea, Jurgen Klinsmann has named a strong lineup including the likes of skipper Heung-Min Son, Hwang Hee Chan and Lee Kang-In.
The winner between the Socceroos and South Korea will go on to face world No. 87 Jordan after they edged past Tajikistan 1-0.
TEAM NEWS
Australia: Ryan (c); Atkinson, Rowles, Souttar, Behich; Baccus, Irvine, Metcalfe; Boyle, Duke, Goodwin
South Korea: Song; Younggwon; Youngwoo, Minjae, Kim; Park, Hwang, Son (c), Hwang, Lee; Cho
FIXTURE DETAILS
Australia v Korea Republic
Saturday, February 3rd 2024
Al-Janoub Stadium, Al-Wakrah
Kick-off: 6:30pm local (2:30am AEDT)
LIVE BLOG
Follow the action in our live blog below! If you can’t see the blog, click here.
PREVIEW
Australia beat the team – now ranked 23rd in the world – in extra time to lift their maiden title on home soil.
Now, in their first tournament meeting since that thrilling final, the two Cup contenders will do battle in Qatar, and it promises to be another epic encounter.
Neither team fully hit their stride in the group stages, but the world number 25 Socceroos racked up three clean sheets in their first four matches – including the 4-0 win over Singapore in the Round of 16.
So far, they’ve scored eight goals and conceded just once, continuing to build on an unbeaten run that now stretches to eight matches.
PREVIEW: Nine-year hurt behind Socceroos grudge match — and how friendly fire could ruin Aussie dream
Socceroos gear up for South Korea clash | 01:27
And Australia have a key boost for the crunch clash against South Korea – the Aussies played their Round of 16 match a full 50 hours before their opponents, who were taken all the way to a penalty shootout by Saudi Arabia.
“I think there’s gonna be some sore bodies and tired bodies from the South Korea camp,” Socceroos striker Mitch Duke said on Thursday.
“We’ve got to exploit that with our high energy and our physicality of how we play anyway, I think it could be an advantage for us to use for sure and I’m sure we’re going to look at that in the coming days.”
But South Korea coach Jurgenn Klinsmann – a former German playing great – said his side were ‘ready to suffer’.
“Rest days are what they are. You accept it, you move on. We are ready,” Klinsmann said.
“We are ready for this huge game and we are very hungry. We want to go through.
“And if you want to go through in the knockout phases of a big tournament, you have to suffer. You have to be ready to suffer, you have to deal with pain, because you are banged up from the last game.
“That’s normal. It’s normal. And the players play this way at their club teams. Many of them play in Europe every three or four days. So it’s no problem.
“It will be a 50-50 match, it will be a hard-fought match. We are ready for the battle. We battled through 120 minutes against Saudi Arabia and we will go and battle through whatever it will takes against Australia.”
Key to South Korea’s hopes of victory is Son Heung-Min, the Tottenham talisman who is back to his best form since Australian manager Ange Postecoglou took over at Spurs this season.
In a funny twist of fate, Postecoglou was in charge of the Socceroos for their 2015 Asian Cup campaign – when Son scored in the final but was not able to overcome Postecoglou’s Socceroos.
Asked about his plans to shut down Son, Graham Arnold joked: “I rang Ange and asked Ange if he can take him back!”
South Korea, ranked two places higher than the Socceroos, will be their hardest opponent of the tournament so far and were considered one of the pre-tournament favourites.
But Keanu Baccus said the Aussies weren’t afraid of South Korea’s bevy of superstars including Son, Kim Min-Jae (Bayern), Lee Kang-In (PSG), and Hwang Hee-Chan (Wolves).
“We’re not too worried about them, we just worry about ourselves, but yeah they’ve got some individual players that are great, and we’ve got talent too, we respect them, but we don’t fear them,” he said.
“We go out and play our game and do what we’ve been doing this tournament. We’ve only conceded the one goal this whole tournament, if we do that again the rest will take care of itself.”
While South Korea pose an immensely difficult task, both teams will be bullish about their chances of reaching the final should they win tonight.
World no. 87 Jordan looms as the semi-final opponent for the victor.
Discussion about this post