sportstotomen   Album Posted Nov.16th, 2023, viewed 296 times

Five European goals, 11th consecutive World Cup, and a fresh start

Cho Kyu-sung opens the scoring in the 44th minute of a 5-0 win over Singapore in the second round of Asian qualifying
Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, Hwang Eui-jo, and Lee Kang-in have all found the back of the net in Europe.
Lee Kang-in has four goals and two assists in his last three games
Nov. 21, China vs. Korea, Qualifying Round 2

South Korea's national soccer team's Cho Kyu-sung, left, celebrates with captain Son Heung-min after scoring the opening goal in the 44th minute of their 2026 North American Football Confederations Cup Asia-Pacific second qualifying match against Singapore on Saturday. South Korea cruised to a 5-0 victory to qualify for their 11th consecutive World Cup.

South Korea's soccer team opened its Asian qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America (U.S., Canada and Mexico) with a five-goal thrashing, setting the sails for an 11th consecutive World Cup appearance.

South Korea defeated Singapore 5-0 on Saturday at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in the first match of Group C of the second round of the 2026 World Cup Asia qualifiers. The win improves South Korea's record against Singapore to 22 wins, three draws and two losses. Jürgen Klinsmann's side have been consistent in their last three matches, scoring 15 goals and not conceding a single point, all of which have been by four goals or more.

Singapore qualified from the first round of Asian qualifying, which featured 20 nations with lower FIFA rankings, while Korea came in from the second round. South Korea is ranked 24th in the FIFA rankings, while Singapore is 155th. Group C included China (79th) and Thailand (112th).

All five of South Korea's goals on the day were scored by Europeans. The first goal came from the toes of Cho Kyu-sung (Midtjylland), who plays in the Danish league. After receiving a pass from Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Cho rattled the net with his left foot in the 44th minute. Cho also rattled the net with a header off a Lee cross in the second leg against Ghana in the group stage of last year's World Cup in Qatar. In the fourth minute of the second half, Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) headed home a cross from Cho Kyu-sung. It was the second goal in as many games for Hwang, who also scored against Vietnam on March 17.

The third goal was scored by "Captain" Son Heung-min (Tottenham) in the 18th minute of the second half, when he evaded the onrushing defense near the arc circle and drilled a left-footed shot into the left side of the goal. "The moment I kicked it, I knew it was a goal," he said after the game. It was Son's 39th goal in A matches. He is now third on the all-time A-Match scoring list behind former South Korea national team coach Cha Bum-geun (58 goals) and Paris Olympic team coach Hwang Sun-hong (50 goals). The fourth goal came from a penalty kick by Hwang Ui-jo (Norwich City) in the 23rd minute of the second half. Hwang converted a penalty kick earned by Seol Young-woo (Ulsan).

The final goal of the day was scored by Lee "Shot Doll" Kang-in. Lee found the back of the net in the 40th minute with his trademark strong left-footed shot from in front of the penalty box. With one goal and one assist on the day, Lee Kang-in has now scored a goal in three consecutive A-Match matches. Lee has been in exceptional form in his last three matches, with four goals and two assists, including two goals against Tunisia last month and one goal and one assist against Vietnam on July 17. Song Eui-young, who was born in Incheon and naturalized in Singapore in 2021, started the match and played until the 37th minute of the second half, but did not record an offensive point.

South Korea will face China on Nov. 21 in the second match of the second qualifying round. It's a visit from Shenzhen, China. With 36 nations competing in nine groups of four teams, the second round will be played on a home-and-away basis until June next year. The first and second place finishers in each group will advance to the third qualifying round.

The 60,000 fans in attendance at the stadium responded with cheers whenever the names of the South Korean players were introduced before kickoff, but remained silent when Klinsmann's name was called. It seems that the controversy over Klinsmann's insincerity, which has been dubbed "telecommuting" and "remote coaching," is continuing as he has frequently traveled away from South Korea since taking over the national team. 토토사이트