WORLD CUP: China scored a last-minute winner against Bahrain in Riffa and sit level on six points with Saudi Arabia and Australia, behind Japan in first place with 10 points
AFP and REUTERS, HONG KONG
Son Heung-min scored a landmark 50th goal for his country to put South Korea a step closer to the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Thursday as Australia and Saudi Arabia canceled each other out.
Tottenham Hotspurs and South Korean skipper Son missed last month’s qualifiers with injury, but celebrated his return with a first-half penalty in a 3-1 win at Kuwait.
GROUP B
Kuwait’s defender Hassan Hamdan Al-Enezi marks South Korea’s Son Heung-min during their 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualification soccer match at Jaber al-Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait City on Thursday.
Photo: AFP
Victory left South Korea comfortably top of Asian Football Confederation Asian Qualifiers 2026 Group B with four wins and a draw after five matches and on course for the World Cup in North America.
The top two teams in each of the three Asian qualifying groups would reach the showpiece in the US, Canada and Mexico. With this phase of qualifying approaching the halfway point, South Korea took a 10th-minute lead in Kuwait when striker Oh Se-hun rose highest to powerfully head home.
Nine minutes later it was 2-0 to the visitors after Son — playing in his 130th game for South Korea — won the penalty and then picked himself up to bury it with minimum fuss.
Mohammad Daham struck on the hour to halve the deficit with a delicious half-volley.
However, substitute Bae Jun-ho, who had replaced Son, made the game safe for South Korea with their third 14 minutes later when he refiled in at the near post.
With five games played in Group B, South Korea are on top with 13 points, followed by Jordan and Iraq in second and third place respectively with eight points, with Joran ahead on goal difference.
GROUP C
Saudi Arabia had a goal disallowed in added time in a 0-0 draw against Australia at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium that did neither side any favors in their bid to qualify.
In his first game back in charge following the sacking of Roberto Mancini, Herve Renard thought his visitors had snatched a late winner when Sultan al-Ghannam fired home from just inside the box in the 93rd minute.
However, the flag went up with one of his Saudi teammates offside.
“We had some good opportunities but we have to go give our opponent credit. First half we didn’t play very well,” Socceroos coach Tony Popovic said.
“We were not very good with the ball while they were sharp and energetic … We improved significantly in the second half, which is good,” he added.
It left Australia and Saudi Arabia level on six points in their scrap for second place in the group.
China reignited their World Cup qualification hopes with a last-gasp 1-0 win over Bahrain in Riffa thanks to a Zhang Yuning strike.
The Chinese moved to six points from five games with Zhang’s 91st-minute winner, the result pulling Branko Ivankovic’s side level with the Australians and Saudis and four points behind Japan.
The Australians continue to hold on to second place in the group on goal difference from Renard’s Saudi Arabia with China in fourth. Bahrain are fifth on five points.
Japan lead the group with 10 points and faced last-placed Indonesia in Jakarta after press time last night.
GROUP A
Iran survived a fightback from North Korea to win 3-2 and cement their spot at the top of Group A with 13 points from a maximum 15.
Mohammad Mohebi scored twice and Mehdi Ghayedi also netted as Iran went into the break in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, cruising at 3-0 up.
Iran went down to 10 men when Shojae Khalilzadeh was sent off in the 52nd minute for bringing down Ri Jo-guk as he went through on goal.
North Korea made the extra man count to pull two goals back — one an own goal by Inter Milan’s Mehdi Taremi — but Iran held on for a precious three points.
The North Koreans are rooted to the bottom of their six-team group with just two points, and have yet to taste victory in the third qualifying stage.
Uzbekistan are in second place with 10 points, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar are in third place and fourth place respectively with seven points, with the UAE ahead on goal difference. Kyrgyz Republic are in fifth place with three points.
Teams finishing third and fourth in their groups in this qualifying round go into a further phase of qualifying.
Additional reporting by staff writer
