Despite Son Heung-min (Tottenham)’s 51st A-match goal, Hong Myung-bo failed to continue his winning streak with a draw with Palestine.
The South Korean national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, lost first due to Kim Min-jae’s back pass mistake in Group B 6 of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup at Amman International Stadium in Jordan on the 19th, but soon after, Son Heung-min was responsible for the equalizer, drawing 1-1 with Palestine.
Son has risen to the second place alone, surpassing Hwang Sun-hong (50 goals) and Daejeon Hana Citizen coach in the overall score ranking of Korean players in A-match games. If he scores eight more goals, he will surpass Cha Bum-keun, former coach of Suwon Samsung, who ranks first in this category (58 goals).
Hong Myung-bo, who won four consecutive games after drawing 0-0 with Palestine in the first round of the third qualifying round, also failed to hunt for victory in the “Return Match.”
Hong Myung-bo, who continued his six-game unbeaten streak (4 wins and 2 draws), still maintained the lead in Group B (14 points), completing the A-match schedule in 2024.
South Korea is aiming to secure an early berth to the finals through two consecutive home games that will be held against Oman and Jordan during the A-match period in March 2025. The first and second place finishers in the third qualifying round will advance to the World Cup finals, while the third and fourth places will advance to the fourth qualifying round, continuing their race for North Korea, China and the U.S.
The Palestinians, who scored one point, continued their hopes of qualifying for the fourth round.
Originally supposed to be held in Palestine, the match took place in Amman because of the war between Palestinian militant Hamas and Israel. Players from both teams lined the half-line ahead of kickoff in the first half and held a moment of silence over the victims of the Palestinian war
South Korea lost the first point in the first 12 minutes due to a back pass mistake by center back Kim Min-jae. Kim Min-jae’s pass to the back while competing with the opponent was too short, and Cho Hyun-woo rushed out, but Palestinian Zayed Kunbar slid and owned the ball and quickly put his right foot shot into the empty net.
Hong scored the equalizer four minutes later. Son Heung-min scored his 51st goal, which surpassed Hwang Sun-hong (50 goals) and Daejeon Hana Citizen coach to rank second overall in the A-match scoring rankings of Korean players, bringing the game to square one. 메이저사이트
Lee Myung-jae’s pass from the left led to Lee Jae-sung’s non-stop penetration pass, and Son Heung-min, who penetrated to the left of the goal area, scored with a right-footed shot aimed at the corner of the opposite goal. The Palestinian defense was helpless in front of the three perfectly matched passes and penetrations.
In the extra time of the first half, Park Yong-woo cut the net with a header, but the score was not recognized by the referee’s judgment that the South Korean player committed a foul in the previous situation.
In the second half, South Korea failed to make a threatening scene as if it had lost some concentration. After Lee Kang-in’s cross in the 7th minute of the second half, Hwang In-beom’s right-footed shot to finish the pass that Oh Se-hoon dropped with a header was not close to scoring for a while.
The Palestinians strongly clashed and sought opportunities to score. In the 25th minute of the second half, Odai Dabag exchanged two-on-one passes with Tamer Seyam, entering the front of the goal area and even connecting the shot, which was a lot off the post.
South Korea wanted to score the winning goal in the 35th minute of the second half when Son Heung-min, who penetrated Hwang In-beom’s long pass into the gate, put it into the net, but was ruled offside by a short distance.
Hong added Joo Min-gyu (Ulsan) instead of Oh Se-hoon in the 19th minute of the second half, Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City) and Oh Hyun-gyu (Henk) instead of Lee Jae-seong in the 27th minute of the second half, and Kim Moon-hwan (Daejeon) instead of Seol Young-woo in the 45th minute of the second half, but no goal was scored. The game ended 1-1.
