Korea’s Son Heung-min Shines with 50th Goal in 3-1 Victory Over Kuwait: World Cup 2026 Qualifying Highlights

Captain Son Heung-min (Tottenham) scored his 50th international goal. The Korean men’s national soccer team also took a step closer to advancing to the World Cup finals with four consecutive wins.

The Korean men’s national football team, led by coach Hong Myung-bo, defeated Kuwait 3-1 in the 5th match of Group B of the North and Central America World Cup 3rd qualifying round Asian held at the Jaber Al-Ahmed International Stadium in Kuwait City, Kuwait on the 14th.

Oh Se-hoon (Machida) scored the first goal in the 10th minute of the first half. Son Heung-min quickly scored the penalty kick in the 19th minute of the first half. Oh Se-hoon scored in two consecutive games. Son Heung-min scored his 50th goal in his 130th A game. Son Heung-min was tied for second place with Daejeon coach Hwang Sun-hong after Cha Bum-geun (58 goals) in the all-time scoring ranking among Korean players. If Son Heung-min scores another eight goals, he will be tied for the lead with Cha Bum-geun. In the 29th minute of the second half, Bae Jun-ho from Korea (Stoke City) scored to make it 3-1, putting a piece in the game. Bae Jun-ho, who provided many assists in the 3rd game against Jordan and the 4th game against Iraq, recorded offensive points in 3 consecutive games.

Today’s hidden contributor was Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord). Central midfielder Hwang In-beom helped Oh Se-hoon score the opening goal with an early cross. It was Hwang In-beom who helped Bae Jun-ho hit a very good ball. If Lee Jae-seong’s (Mainz) header, which hit the crossbar in the 40th minute of the first half, had scored a goal, Hwang In-beom would have registered three assists.

He was replaced by Son Heung-min in the 18th minute of the second half of the day. In the process of being replaced, Son Heung-min calmly handed over the captain’s armband to Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich). This is manager Hong Myung-bo’s idea for his return to the field after recovering from a thigh injury at Tottenham. Son Heung-min upset fans by missing the 3rd and 4th games of the 3rd World Cup qualifying round held last October due to a thigh injury, but joined Hong Myung-boho before the two-game trip to the Middle East in November.

Coach Hong Myung-bo boldly introduced young blood selected to the national team for the first time, such as Lee Tae-seok (22, Pohang Steelers) and Lee Hyeon-ju (21, Hannover), in in the middle of the second half of the day.

Korea won the 13th victory (4 draws, 8 losses) in its history against Kuwait. Since the Lebanon Asian Cup match in October 2000 (Korea lost 0-1), the team has been winless in 9 games (8 wins, 1 draw), including the last 5 wins in series, against Kuwait.

With today’s victory, Korea, who had won four consecutive games in the North and Central America World Cup qualifiers, maintained the same lead with four wins and one draw (13 points). (7 points), who had played one less game, to six points.

Korea will face Palestine in Amman, Jordan on the 19th. If Korea defeats Palestine, they will be able to overcome the goal of 8th division facing North Korea, Central America, and the United States. In the third preliminary round, where 18 Asian countries will compete in three groups, the top two in each group will receive a direct ticket to the finals of the World Cup. The 3rd and 4th place teams from each group will continue to compete in the 4th preliminary round, which is a repeat game.