Korea Republic vs Bahrain Prediction & Betting Tips - Asian Cup

Prediction published on 13/01/2024, 07:46  by Joseph King | Modified on 13/01/2024 at 07:54 in Football Predictions

Group E in the Asian Cup kicks off with one of the tournament favorites in South Korea taking on Bahrain in Al-Rayyan. Malaysia and Jordan are the two other teams that make up the group. South Korea come into this tournament in fine form and are looking like good value to make a deep run, potentially even to the final. South Korea have two Asian Cup titles to their name but haven’t won the quadrennial competition since 1960. Their best recent finish was in 2015 when they made the final, only to lose 2-1 to Australia. The Taegeuk Warriors will be confident of a good showing this time around and enter this match on a six game winning streak. Their most recent result was a 1-0 win over Iraq courtesy of a 40th minute goal by Mainz’s Jae-Sung Lee. South Korea’s last defeat was in June of 2023 as they are currently riding an eight match unbeaten run.

Bahrain are playing in their sixth consecutive AFC Asian Cup and their seventh all-time. They made it to the round of 16 in 2019 and their best ever finish was fourth in the 2004 edition. Bahrain will be hoping to upset the odds as they are currently the third favorites to finish atop Group E. The Reds haven’t had the best preparation for the tournament and will enter this opening game on a two match losing streak. Following a 2-0 home loss to the UAE in World Cup qualifying, Bahrain would then follow that up with another 2-0 loss to Australia in a friendly. This will be the team’s first meeting with South Korea since 2019 where they lost 2-1. Bahrain are understandably significant favorites as they have now failed to score in their last two while conceding four.