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
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
PINA BRACE: Claudia Pina scored in the 61st and 74th minutes, while Vicky Lopez added one as Spain notched their third victory in a final in the past four tournaments Claudia Pina scored twice and Germany crumbled on Tuesday as Spain retained the UEFA Women’s Nations League title with a 3-0 victory in the final’s second leg. Vicky Lopez also scored after Pina finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Germany stubbornly hanging on as Spain had done in the first leg, a 0-0 draw in Kaiserslautern on Friday. Spain were without three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, who broke her leg in training on Sunday. Lopez took Bonmati’s place and Spain dominated from the start. Esther Gonzalez swept the ball just past the post and Mariona Caldentey forced a save
RSS