South Korea to Host Venezuela, Uzbekistan in October Football Friendlies

By Yoo Jee-ho SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will host Venezuela and Uzbekistan in men's football friendly matches in October, the national football federation announced Tuesday. The Korea Football Association (KFA) said the Taegeuk Warriors will take on Venezuela on Oct. 2 and then play Uzbekistan four days later. Venues and kickoff times for the matches will be determined later. These contests will fall during the next FIFA international match window, from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6. The KFA said it is in talks with two potential opponents for September. South Korea fell seven spots to No. 32 in the latest FIFA rankings, following their group-stage exit at the FIFA World Cup last month. Venezuela, ranked 47th, did not qualify for the big tournament. The two teams have faced each other once previously, with South Korea prevailing 3-1 in September 2014 in Bucheon, just west of Seoul. Uzbekistan were eliminated from the group stage in their World Cup debut last month after losing all three matches. They dropped 50th to 60th in the FIFA rankings as a result. This will be the 17th match between South Korea and Uzbekistan, and their first since South Korea won 4-0 in November 2018 in Australia. South Korea hold a sizable advantage with 11 wins, four draws and one loss so far. The South Korean men's head coach position remains vacant after Hong Myung-bo resigned in late June, immediately after South Korea's World Cup elimination. The KFA announced last week that it will hire a caretaker manager to handle the next two FIFA match windows -- the second one this fall is Nov. 9-17 -- and then appoint a full-time boss afterward.