Road to FIFA World Cup 2014: South Korea

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The 2002 semi-finalists will take part in their eighth consecutive finals when they travel to Brazil and the route to the footballing showpiece can rarely have been more fraught than the one South Korea plotted this time around.

Teams of Korea's stature are afforded the luxury of beginning in the third round of Asian qualifying – a set of preliminary four-team groups playing off for two places in the final round-robin stage.

As such, progression is expected to prove a formality, but Korea entered the concluding matchday against Kuwait with their hopes hanging in the balance and a new man at the helm.

A 2-1 loss to a Lebanon side they had dispatched 6-0 in their opening match heralded the end of Cho Kwang-Rae's tenure at the end of 2011, having presided over a semi-final defeat to eventual winners Japan in the Asian Cup that January.

The Korean FA plumped for former international sweeper Choi Kang-Hee on his unusual proviso that he would be allowed to step aside at the end of qualification.

The relief was palpable when Lee Dong-Gook steered into the top corner after 65 minutes and Lee Keun-Ho finished emphatically six minutes later in the 2-0 win over Kuwait that followed, a result that was not as essential as it first seemed after Lebanon collapsed to a 4-2 defeat and elimination as they handed UAE their first points of the competition.

Respective 4-1 and 3-0 triumphs over Qatar and Lebanon in the opening games of the final round extended Choi's honeymoon period, but a solitary point from their next two contests against eventual winners Iran and surprise package Uzbekistan proved costly as a three-way fight developed.

One of the most important touches in Korea's qualifying campaign came from an Uzbekistan player in their penultimate match when Kim Young-Gwon's inswinging cross from the right was headed into his own net by Akmal Shorakhmedov to give Choi's men a crucial 1-0 win.

The expected coronation in Ulsan against Iran did not materialise as Reza Ghoochannejhad capitalised on a wretched error from hero-turned-villain Kim to score the only goal and seal top spot for Iran.

Attentions turned to Tashkent, where a goal blitz in the final 30 minutes saw Uzbekistan demolish Qatar 5-1 – two more and they would have dumped South Korea out on goal difference.

Hardly the glorious finale Choi envisaged, but the desired result nonetheless as he returned to his vacated post with Jeonbuk Motors.

National icon Hong Myung-Bo, who appeared at four World Cups between 1990 and 2002, took up the reins after superbly shepherding Korea's Under-23s to an Olympic bronze medal at London 2012 – a gifted group who have swelled the talent pool at international level.

Player turnover during the qualifying campaign was staggering, with 45 used across 14 matches, but a nucleus is starting to emerge.

Bolton's Lee Chung-Yong is back up to speed following fitness problems over recent years and took the captain's armband in the absence of Olympian Koo Ja-Cheol for the creditable 2-1 win against European qualifiers Switzerland in November.

Domestically-based strikers Kim Shin-Wook and Lee Keun-Ho provide the firepower to a squad boasting Bundesliga and Premier League representation from the likes of Augsburg's Wolfsburg loanee Koo and Cardiff's Kim Bo-Kyung among others.

Hong will need those men and his Olympic starlets on top of their game if South Korea are to repeat their performance at World Cup 2010, when they reached the last 16 on foreign soil for the first time.

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Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK.