DOHA: Two days before their matchup in Qatar, South Korea and Brazil, the competitors in the knockout phase of the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup, are remaining under the radar on Saturday.
Moments after defeating Portugal 2-1 on Friday night to advance to the Round of 16, South Korea declared that Saturday will be a vacation day. South Korea has had two days free since their training camp in Doha began on November 14. On November 20, the first day of the competition, the Taegeuk Warriors also skipped practise.
According to FIFA's official squad schedule, Brazil held a training session in Doha on Saturday afternoon that was off-limits to the media. Teams can decide whether to train in front of the media for the first 15 minutes or the full session, or they can train behind locked gates.
South Korea and Brazil both completed their group play on Friday. Despite losing to Cameroon 1-0, they still won Group G and will face South Korea, which placed second to Portugal in Group H, according to Yonhap. Their Round of sixteen match will be played Monday at Stadium 974 in Doha.
28th-ranked South Korea has only defeated first-place Brazil once in their previous seven meetings. Most recently, Brazil crushed South Korea 5-1 in a friendly encounter in Seoul in June. The five goals scored by the Selecao against South Korea were also the most ever against that nation and was Brazil's largest margin of victory.
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