Hong Myung-bo, the final match of the preliminary round against Kuwait today..."Going to the finals without losing." Let's go
Hong Myung-bo, the final match of the preliminary round against Kuwait today..."Going to the finals without losing." Let's go
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Hong Myung-bo, who has achieved his goal of advancing to the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time, will face Kuwait on the 10th. Although he will be able to play with a lighter mind as he already has a ticket to the World Cup finals, the match against Kuwait has another challenge of winning the preliminary round for the first time in 16 years.
The national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play the final 10th match of Group B of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA North-China World Cup against Kuwait at 8 p.m. on the 10th at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
South Korea won 2-0 in an away match in Iraq on the 6th and recorded 5 wins and 4 draws (19 points) to win a ticket to the World Cup regardless of the final match.
In the match against Kuwait, where the burden of the results has been reduced, a large number of young players will be used to gain experience and draw a blueprint for the World Cup to be held a year later.
Coach Hong Myung-bo said in his return from the Iraq match, "We will test young players who can play in the World Cup finals," and predicted, "There are not many opportunities, but we plan to actively use young players from the match against Kuwait because it is much easier to coach them in person and play in the game."
Therefore, in the match against Kuwait, it is expected to be an opportunity for resources such as Kim Joo-sung (25, Seoul), Oh Hyun-kyu (24, Genk), Cho Hyun-taek (24, Gimcheon), Yang Hyun-joon (23, Celtic), and Lee Han-beom (23, Mit Willan).
Coach Hong Myung-bo is also preparing Bae Joon-ho (22, Stoke), who was called up for the U22 national team, to play in the match against Kuwait.
Although he has achieved his primary goal, this does not mean that he will play lightly.
The goal is to finish the last game of the World Cup qualifying round in front of home fans, and further achieve an unbeaten record in the Asian qualifying round for the first time in 16 years.
After passing the second qualifying round of this World Cup with five wins and one draw, South Korea has five wins and four draws in the third qualifying round, and if it does not lose the final match against Kuwait, it can advance to the finals without losing a single game.
There have been two unbeaten qualifiers in Korea's World Cup history. In the 1990 World Cup qualifying round, Korea advanced to the finals with nine wins, two draws and no loss in 11 matches, and in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, it secured a place to advance to the finals with seven wins, seven draws and no loss.
Since then, South Korea has played in the World Cup finals on a regular basis, but has not achieved an unbeaten record.
In particular, at the 2022 Qatar World Cup under Paulo Bento, he had five wins and one draw until the second qualifying round and seven wins and two draws until the ninth round of the final qualifying round, but lost the match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after the final round, failing to achieve an unbeaten record and No. 1 place in the group.
The match against Kuwait has nothing to do with whether it will advance to the finals or not, but it is more meaningful not to miss the unbeaten advancement and the record of No. 1 in the group.
In addition, the disappointment of showing a disappointing performance at home should be dispelled at this opportunity.
South Korea did well with four wins and one draw (13 points) in an away match in the Middle East, which is said to be tricky out of five wins and four draws, but on the contrary, it has only one win and three draws (6 points) on its home turf.
In the first match of the third qualifying round against Palestine in September, coach Hong Myung-bo and the national team players were booed by the red devil, and there were many chaotic situations, such as not being able to use the Seoul World Cup Stadium due to grass problems. 먹튀검증
Therefore, the last match against Kuwait in the preliminary round needs to instill hope in the finals for home fans with cool performance.
Meanwhile, the Korea Football Association (KFA) is conducting a card section featuring the phrase "WE Daehan" with the red devil and preparing a spectacular sight of the entire audience waving the Taegeukgi clapper. In addition, after the game, the stadium will be heated with a "chic party" atmosphere, such as the team's opening ceremony for the finals.