South Korea will be looking to qualify for their 11th consecutive FIFA World Cup when they take on Palestine in the third round of Asian qualifying on Thursday.

The last time they failed to qualify was in 1982, and since then they have exited the tournament at the group stage on seven occasions, twice in the round of 16 and in 2002, when they co-hosted the tournament with Japan, they finished an impressive fourth.

Former coach Juergen Klinsmann, who took over from Paulo Bento at the end of the 2022 World Cup, had a difficult time in charge of South Korea and was finally sacked after a hugely disappointing AFC Asian Cup semi-final exit to Jordan.

Hong Myong-Bo was finally hired five months after Klinsmann's sacking, and the new boss will be preparing for his first game in charge when they take on Palestine.

Myong-Bo's side have been drawn in a favourable group with Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Palestine in the Asian qualifiers and are expected to finish comfortably in the top two and qualify directly for the 2026 finals.

South Korea are also expected to comprehensively defeat Palestine on Thursday, a side who narrowly missed out on this stage for the first time in their history after finishing two points ahead of Lebanon in second place.

Makram Daboub, who has been in charge since May 2021, will be delighted with his history-making Palestine side and will be hoping they can make more history by qualifying for their first ever World Cup.

The visitors were thrashed 5-0 by Australia in their last outing, a result they will be keen to avoid against a similarly strong South Korea side.

South Korea possible starting lineup:

Jo; Moon-hwan Kim, Kim Min-jae, Young-Gwon Kim, Jin-su Kim; In-Beom Hwang, Paik, Jae-sung Lee; Kang-in Lee, Hee-Chan Hwang, Son

Palestine possible starting lineup:

Hamada; Battat, Termanini, Mahajna, Khalil; Kharoub, Rashid, Warda; Qumbor, Dabbagh, Qunbar

Prediction:South Korea 4-0 Palestine

South Korea VS Palestine stream and TV listing

International：Holasports