Hong Myung-bo, who will return to the national soccer team for the first time in 10 years, will take the first step toward advancing to the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time.
The South Korean national team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play its first Group B match against Palestine at 8 p.m. on the 5th at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA North-China World Cup.
In the third qualifying round, in which 18 countries are divided into three groups, six of the 8.5 finalists assigned to Asia will be decided.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the World Cup finals, while the third and fourth teams will advance to the fourth preliminary round where they will compete for two tickets. The fifth and sixth teams will be eliminated.
Korean soccer has been on the World Cup finals since the 1986 Mexico Games.
South Korea, which holds the most Asian records in this category, will try to reach the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time at the North-China World Cup.
South Korea will play the first home game against the Palestinians at home and continue its second away game against Oman on the 10th.
Hong Myung-bo, who was called up in Goyang on the 2nd, joined the team on the 3rd with Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), and Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) joining the team and set foot as a “complete group” until the 4th.
Hong Myung-bo, who finished the final quenching without any injuries, is expected to face the Palestinians with the best of his abilities.
Palestine, ranked 96th in FIFA rankings, is considered one level below Korea (23rd).
It is the first face-to-face confrontation between the A teams. As for representatives by age group, Korea won 3-0 once at the group league of the Guangzhou Asian Games on Nov. 13, 2010.
However, striker Wessam Abu Ali (Al-Ahli), who joined the team after playing in European leagues, is considered one of the players to be wary of. Abu Ali has represented Denmark by age.
The two consecutive A matches in September, the first step toward the World Cup finals, will mark Hong’s first return to the national team head coach in 10 years.
Hong, who used to be a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, dropped his baton after being eliminated from the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
After that, he returned to the national team in July for the first time in 10 years after serving as the administrator of the Korea Football Association, the Chinese league, and the K-League.
However, controversy over fairness arose in the process of appointing the coach, and fans’ eyes are still cold.
Public opinion is likely to deteriorate if it fails to win a hot victory over Palestine and Oman, which are below the level.
Hong said, “It’s my first game and I’m sure many people have high expectations. I’ll prepare to score more points, but I’ll focus more on winning than anything else. Winning the first game is the most important thing.”
“Creativity is important in offense and discipline in defense,” he added.
“Captain” Son Heung-min is considered as the player who will give Hong Myung-bo his first win.
Son Heung-min, who was coached by Hong Myung-bo as the youngest 10 years ago, is now back together as a sign and captain representing Korean soccer.
If Son Heung-min, who has 48 goals in 127 A matches, plays in the match against Palestine, he will become the sole fourth-ranked player in this category beyond Lee Young-pyo, the former vice president of the Korea Football Association.토토사이트
If he adds three more goals, he will surpass Hwang Sun-hong (50 goals) and Hana Citizen coach in Daejeon to rank second in this category.
“The players finished the training well in a good atmosphere. We are having fun preparing for it,” Son said. “I hope we can start the final qualifying round well in a good atmosphere.”