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
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
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS