“Even if it takes long, it will be done properly, good atmosphere thanks to Hwang Sun-hong and Kim Do-hoon”
Son Heung-min, the captain of the South Korean national soccer team, spoke out about the delay in hiring a permanent coach and thanked the interim coaches.
The South Korean national soccer team, coached by interim head coach Kim Do-hoon, defeated Singapore 7-0 in the fifth match of Group C at the 2026 North and Central American World Cup Asia Second Qualifying Round at the Singapore National Stadium on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET.
With four wins and one draw (13 points) through five matches, South Korea has clinched at least second place in the group and a spot in the World Cup finals.
The gap between South Korea, ranked 23rd in the FIFA rankings, and Singapore, ranked 155th, was clear.
In the ninth minute, Son Heung-min’s right-footed shot from the left half of the box was saved by the goalkeeper after he cut in from the left, but in the ensuing attack, Lee Kang-in opened the scoring with a right-footed cannonball from the right half of the box following a fantastic scissor dribble. Lee Min-gyu assisted.
Singapore also got on the board in the 11th minute when Hami Shaheen ran onto an early cross from the left side and curled in a right-footed header that was saved by Cho Hyun-woo.
In the 20th minute, the ‘K League’s top scorer’ scored his A-Match debut, as Kim Jin-soo’s early cross from the left was headed home from the front of the box. It was his first goal in three A-Match matches.
South Korea dominated the first half with 71 percent of the ball possession and nine shots on goal to Singapore’s seven shots on goal and one on 사설토토 target.
In the second half, Singapore struggled with aggressive forward pressure, but South Korea had Son Heung-min. In the eighth minute of the second half, Son Heung-min, who received a pass from Lee Min-gyu, came into the center from the left side and scored with a right-footed shot from the left half-space, the so-called “Son Heung-min Zone.
The goal was especially exhilarating because it came after Son had beaten the defenses of Ryehan Stewart and Harris Stewart, who were fouling him. He has now scored in all five matches of the second round of World Cup qualifying.
Shortly after Son Heung-min’s goal, South Korea added a second in the ninth minute of the second half when Lee Kang-in scored with a left-footed shot from inside the box off a pass from Lee Min-gyu in the ensuing attack. It was Lee Kang-in’s second goal of the game and Minjoo In-gyu’s first goal and three assists.
That wasn’t all. In the 11th minute of the second half, Son Heung-min scored on another counterattack opportunity, this time a right-footed shot from the left side of the field into the center of the box, to give South Korea a three-goal lead in four minutes.
South Korea added two more goals in the second half, a 34th-minute goal by Bae Jun-ho on his A-match debut after finishing off a cutback from the right by Park Seung-wook, and a 37th-minute goal by Hwang Hee-chan to seal the 7-0 victory.
Multi-goal captain Son Heung-min said after the game that the team is still without a permanent coach, “It’s a difficult situation for the coach and the fans. The players have to take it. Even if it takes time, we need to appoint the right coach for the team.” ‘The legendary Hwang Sun-hong and interim coach Kim Do-hoon have been working well together, and we are playing a good atmosphere,’ he said.