‘Singapore’s big win’ Kim Do-hoon’s national soccer team returns to Korea… Now prepare for the China war
Kim Do-hoon’s national soccer team, who scored a goal against Singapore and confirmed their advancement to the 2026 North and Central America World Cup Asia 3rd qualifying round, has returned to Korea.
The Korean national soccer team, led by ‘temporary head coach’ Kim Do-hoon, entered the country through Incheon International Airport on the morning of the 7th.
The national team won 7-0 in the 5th game of Group C of the 2026 North and Central America World Cup Asia 2nd qualifying round held at the Singapore National Stadium the day before, led by the multi-goal performance of Son Heung-min (Tottenham) and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain).
Korean soccer, which has yet to find an official head coach to take over the baton, boosted morale with a huge win in the first game played after appointing coach Kim Do-hoon as temporary head coach.
Joo Min-gyu (Ulsan) contributed 3 assists to his debut goal in the international match (a match between national teams), and Bae Jun-ho (Stoke Stey) also enjoyed a debut goal in his national team debut, and the attacking team performed evenly.
Korea, which earned 13 points with 4 wins and 1 draw in the second qualifying round, confirmed its advancement to the third qualifying round starting in September regardless of the results of the remaining games.
Still, the home game against China is important.
Kim Do-hoon will play the final 6th game of the second qualifying round against China at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. on the 11th.
They must win against China to maintain their third place in Asia following Japan (18th) and Iran (20th) in the FIFA rankings and avoid Japan and Iran in the third preliminary round, which will be divided into three groups.
Korea, ranked 23rd (1,563.99 ranking points), is 0.06 points ahead of Australia, ranked 4th in Asia (24th, 1,563.93 points).
Coach Kim Do-hoon met with reporters immediately after entering the country and said, “We plan to continue the game model we shared against Singapore (against China). “I will focus more on positioning than the game against Singapore,” he said. “First, we need to focus on winning the game.”
He continued, “We have the last goal left to achieve,” and “As it is a game played at home, just as the result of the game against Singapore brought joy to our fans, the team and I have the same desire to achieve some kind of finale in the final game of the (second) preliminary round.” “I have it,” he emphasized.
Coach Kim gave the players a break that day. The national team plans to convene at their dorm on the 8th and then conduct open training for fans at Goyang Stadium.
(Source: Yonhap News
