Preview: North Korea vs. Kyrgyzstan - prediction, team news, lineups

North Korea play host to Kyrgyzstan on Thursday knowing they have already been eliminated from World Cup qualifying.

At a time when the home side sit bottom of Group A in the third round of the Asian section, the visitors need a win to realistically have any hope of remaining in the hunt for the fourth round.

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Match preview

When North Korea edged their way through the second round to reach this stage, it was quickly deemed that they would struggle to advance any further in their bid for a surprise place at the World Cup.

That is how it has proven, failing to win any of their eight matches to sit bottom of the standings with just the two points, eight points adrift of fourth place.

Frustration will come from five of their six defeats being by a one-goal margin, most recently at home to UAE who scored a 98th-minute winner to prevail 2-1 in Riyadh.

Sin Yong-nam and his side are now looking to end their campaign on a high, knowing that accumulating four points from their last two games may be enough to avoid finishing in last spot.

Nevertheless, North Korea have lost their last five games and have only emerged victorious in three of their most recent 14 competitive encounters, the most notable coming against Syria.

Kyrgyzstan found themselves with similar minnow status ahead of appearing in this group, yet they have pulled off two victories among some of the elite on the continent.

As well as winning the reverse fixture against North Korea by a 1-0 scoreline, they overcame Qatar by a 3-1 scoreline back in March.

For a team that has never progressed past the last 16 of the Asian Cup, that was a standout result and one that retains a glimmer of hope for Maksim Lisitsyn's team ahead of the final double-header.

Although they are relying on other results, beating North Korea and UAE may put themselves in a position to edge out Qatar for fourth place in the group.

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Team News

Providing that everyone is fit, Sin may decide to select the team that ran UAE so close in their previous game back in March.

Although Kuk-jin Kim, Kuk Choe and Kuk-chol Jang were all introduced by the 46th minute, Yu-song Kim's header before half time had brought North Korea level at the time.

The centre-back is now North Korea's top goalscorer at this stage, emphasising how his team have struggled in the final third.

Gulzhigit Alykulov is pushing for a recall to the Kyrgyzstan side having provided a late assist as a substitute as his nation surprised Qatar last time out.

Kai Merk could be the player to miss out having failed to score in the third-round fixtures, but that may prove to be the only alteration.

North Korea possible starting lineup: Kang; Choe, Jong, Kim, Kim; Paek, Ra, Kang, Ri; Ri, Pak

Kyrgyzstan possible starting lineup: Tokotaev; Mishchenko, Kozubaev, Kichin, Brauzman, Kenzhebaev; Atabaev, Shukurov; Zarypbekov; Kojo, Alykulov

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We say: North Korea 1-1 Kyrgyzstan

With both teams able to take confidence from their most recent performances, this should prove to be a competitive encounter. While Kyrgyzstan will back themselves to earn another potentially-priceless victory, we are backing the home side to earn a share of the spoils, one which would not benefit the visitors.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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