At 19:00 Beijing time on March 24, the 9th round of Group A of the World Preliminary Round of 12 in the Asian Zone, South Korea, which ranked 3rd in ASIA by FIFA, faced Iran, which ranked 1st in Asia. With goals from Son Heung-min and Kim Young-kwon, South Korea beat Iran 2-0, ending a 29-year wait.
In the first 8 rounds, Iran ranked 1st in the group with 7 wins and 1 draw with 22 points, and South Korea ranked 2nd in the group with 6 wins, 2 draws and 21 points, both of which have received a World Cup ticket in advance.
After losing 2-0 to South Korea in this round, Iran swallowed the first defeat in the round of 12, and now South Korea is the only unbeaten team in the round of 12. The unbeaten bodies of Japan and Saudi Arabia, the two teams that qualified early in Group B, have long been broken.
This 0-2 also allowed Iran to end the World Cup unbeaten 7 games against South Korea, and the last time they lost to South Korea in the World Preliminary Round was 0-3 at home in 1993, it has been 29 years.
Statistics after the game show that Iran only shot 7 times on goal and 1 shot on target, and the possession rate is only 42%, which can be said to be completely suppressed by South Korea.
Son Heung-min has scored five goals in his last seven games, with Kim Young-kwon scoring his second goal in this World Cup to help South Korea beat Iran 2-0. After this round, South Korea not only surpassed Iran to reach the first place in Group A, but also became the only unbeaten team in the round of 12.