Fifa World Cup Qualifier Preview: South Korea - Lebanon

The Taeguk Warriors have had a number of injury problems hit the squad recently, with Bolton's Lee Chung-Yong ruled out for nine months with a broken leg. Only this week, in-form Hamburg SV forward Son Heung-Min injured his ankle too, ruling him out of this match.

However, there is some good news for Korea coach Cho Kwang-Rae, with Wolfsburg's Koo Ja-Cheol recovering quickly from an ankle injury and he could start. If he fails to prove his fitness, it's expected Kim Jung-Woo will take his place as attacking midfielder. New Arsenal striker Park Chu-Young isn't fully 100 per cent after an interrupted pre-season but should start, while Nam Tae-Hee could begin on the right side of attack, with Lee Keun-Ho to drop out.

The Cedars come into this contest with few offering them any chance of getting a result and their 2-0 loss to Bangladesh in the second leg of their second round 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifier to reach the group phase hints they struggle away from home.

With that in mind, Lebanon's German coach Theo Bucker is expected to field a defensive line-up, hoping to eliminate any Korean counter-attacking threats. Lebanon's quality is in attack, with Hassan Maatouk and Mohammed Ghaddar, but Bucker has a dilemma on who to give a start to, in a defensive line-up.

• These two nations were grouped against one another at this stage of 2006 Fifa World Cup qualifying where Korea defeated Lebanon 2-0 in Suwon, before a 1-1 draw in Beirut. The latter was the last time these two teams have met.

• South Korea haven't lost on home soil since September last year, when they went down 1-0 in Seoul to Iran in a friendly.

• In Korea's past three home matches, they've beaten 2010 World Cup finalists Honduras, Serbia and Ghana.

• Taeguk Warriors skipper Park Chu-Young has been in the news this week, after joining Arsenal.

• The South Koreans have qualified for the past seven World Cup finals.

• Lebanon, on the other hand, have never qualified for the World Cup finals.

• The Cedars snuck past lowly Bangladesh 4-2 on aggregate to qualify for the third round.

• Lebanon's recent home friendly against Kuwait, which lost 6-0, ended in ugly scenes, when a brawl erupted among the players, with armed guards firing gunshots into the sky to separate the teams.