Korea routs Singapore to book 3rd-round spot in World Cup qualification
Korea routs Singapore to book 3rd-round spot in World Cup qualification
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Two of their biggest stars each grabbed a brace, as Korea hammered Singapore 7-0 on Thursday to clinch
a spot in the next phase in the Asian World Cup qualifying campaign.
Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur and Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain each had two goals in
Korea's dominant win in the Group C match in the second round of the Asian qualification for the 2026
FIFA World Cup.
Ulsan HD FC forward Joo Min-kyu netted his first international goal and set up three others, while two
England-based players, Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bae Jun-ho of Stoke City,
contributed a goal each.
With 13 points, Korea is guaranteed to finish among the top two in the group with one final match against China coming up Tuesday in Seoul. The top two teams from each of the nine groups in the second round
will advance to the third round, which kicks off in 합법 September.
In the other Group C match Thursday, China and Thailand finished in a 1-1 draw. China sit in second place
with eight points, followed by Thailand with five points. China will grab the second seed in Group C with
either a draw or a win against Korea next week.
Thailand must beat Singapore and have China lose to Korea on Tuesday to have a shot at reaching the
third round by winning the goal-difference tiebreaker. China's goal differential is +1, compared to
Thailand's -2.
Korea had blanked Singapore 5-0 in their first Group C meeting last November in Seoul. And the Taegeuk
Warriors, world No. 23, enjoyed another breezy match against their 155th-ranked opponent.
Lee put Korea on the board nine minutes into the match. After Son's shot was turned aside by goalkeeper
Hassan Sunny, Joo gathered the rebound on the right side of the box before finding Lee. The left-footed
midfielder then danced past multiple defenders and fired a rare right-footed shot past Hassan.
Joo put himself on the scoresheet in the 20th minute, heading home a cross by Kim Jin-su for his first
international goal. The two-time K League 1 scoring champion only made his international debut in
March, and this was his third match for Korea.
At 34 years and 54 days old, Joo became the second oldest player to score his first international goal for
Korea.
Korea blew the match wide open with three goals in a three-minute span in the second half.
Son made it 3-0 in the 53rd minute after taking a long feed from Joo on the left wing, cutting back toward
the center and unleashing a right-footed shot.
Moments later, Lee scored his second goal of the evening, with Joo once again setting it up after forcing a
Singapore turnover near the box.
Son joined the brace club just two minutes later, scoring almost a carbon copy of his first goal.
Son now has 48 international goals, two behind former striker Hwang Sun-hong for second place on the
Korean scoring list. Cha Bum-kun is at the top with 58 goals.
Bae scored his first international marker in his senior national team debut in the 79th minute, before
Hwang Hee-chan rounded out the scoring three minutes later.
This was Korea's largest victory since beating Sri Lanka 8-0 in a 2022 World Cup qualifying match in
September 2019.
Korea played their third straight match under a caretaker boss. With the Korea Football Association (KFA)
unable to find a full-time replacement for Jurgen Klinsmann, who was fired in February, Hwang Sun-
hong, then head coach of the men's under-23 national team, served as the temporary boss for two World
Cup qualifiers in March.
The KFA then missed its self-imposed, early-May deadline to hire a new coach. It named former K League
coach Kim Do-hoon as the second caretaker manager for the two World Cup qualifying matches in June.
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