[Courtesy of Korean Football Association - FA photos]
South Korea will seek a friendly as a substitute for the postponed World Cup qualifying match with Kuwait because FIFA refused to lift sanctions on the Middle East country, football officials said Friday.
South Korea and Kuwait were to meet on March 29 in the southern city of Daegu in their final match of the second Asian qualifying round for the 2018 World Cup. But FIFA's website listed the match as "postponed".
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said South Korea would have to replace the March 29 match with a friendly because FIFA has yet to lift its sanctions imposed against Kuwait last October.
"There was no final answer from FIFA, but we are now planning a friendly probably abroad with an Asian country," a KFA official told Aju News.
FIFA would discuss lifting sanctions on Kuwait in May, but KFA officials say South Korea cannot play a postponed match because the draw for Asia's final qualification round is set for April 12. South Korea have already secured the top spot in Group G with two matches left in the second round.
A dozen teams will be divided into two groups of six in the final qualification round.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
