9 June 2021 12:00 am
By Susil Premalal
Sri Lanka will eye a draw or a clean sheet when they take on South Korea today in their World Cup qualifier, the team’s captain Sujan Perera has said.
“Our objective is to play for a draw or defend our goal against South Korea who are ranked 39th in the world,” the goal-keeper said.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian zone second round qualifying match will be played at the Goyang Stadium in South Korea.Kick-off is at 4.30 pm Sri Lanka time.
In the previous match against Lebanon, Sri Lanka went down narrowly 3-2.
Sri Lanka has faced South Korea thrice in the past and have lost to them on all three occasions.
In 1979 at the President’s Cup Sri Lanka were beaten 6-0, in the 1986 Quaid-E-Azam Cup Sri Lanka lost 4-0 and in the first round clash of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian zone Sri Lanka were drubbed 8-0.
“The Sri Lanka football team is in a strong mental frame of mind after the Lebanon match. Apart from a few niggling injuries, there are no major fitness issues. We hope to give an improved performance against South Korea after learning from our mistakes against Lebanon. This is an important game for South Korea as well. The reason being both South Korea and Lebanon have won three out of four games played. Therefore, the clash between South Korea and Lebanon on June 13 will decide the group H champions,” Football Sri Lanka (FSL) Secretary Jaswar Umar said.