KUALA LUMPUR: Football coach Bojan Hodak has his money on South Korea and Iran making the final of the Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday.
Standing in South Korea's way are Jordan who they will play at the Al-Rayyan Stadium tomorrow while Iran face hosts Qatar in their semi-final at the Al-Thumama Stadium on Wednesday.
Hodak believes that both Iran and South Korea have the quality to outplay their opponents.
Iran defeated Japan 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
"Iran are good in all positions, they are a very balanced and experienced team. The average age of their players for their last match was 30 years old," said Hodak.
"Iran have players who are playing in Italy, England and Portugal. They entered the tournament as one of the favourites.
"Qatar have some very good, fast players in attack but they do not really look like a top side in defence, especially in goal.
"Uzbekistan were able to create a lot of chances against them (Qatar), so I think Iran will be a big problem for them.
"I think Iran and South Korea are favourites to enter the final but to be honest, if you look at everything so far, I think Iran are the favourites to win it (in the final)."
Hodak said South Korea have a similar level of quality players in their squad but have shown inconsistency at times. South Korea defeated Australia 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
"They completely outplayed Australia in some parts of the match but in others they struggled," said Hodak.
"Even in the group stage against Malaysia they conceded but then sped up the game and easily scored two goals before relaxing again. I believe this was also what happened against Jordan.
"So they had some 'black holes' and lost their focus earlier on but I do not believe this will happen in the business end of the tournament.
"They also have top players who can make the difference such as Son Heung Min. You need these kind of game changers at this level.
"It is always about the quality of players. Both South Korea and Iran have top players who play in Europe but Jordan and Qatar don't have them.
"This is why I believe Iran and South Korea will go to the next round."
South Korea were held to a 2-2 draw by Jordan and 3-3 by Malaysia in the group stage. They, however, defeated Bahrain 3-1 to finish second in Group E.