At 19:00 on November 16, Beijing time, in the first round of Group C of the second stage of the 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the South Korean team sat at home against the Singapore team. After some competition, the South Korean team defeated the Singapore team 5-0 and won the opening goal. In this campaign, Cho Gyu-sung, Hwang Hee-chan, Son Heung-min, Hwang Eui-suk, and Lee Gang-in scored goals for the South Korean team.
In the second stage of the World Asian Preliminary Round (Round of 36), South Korea, Singapore, China and Thailand are in Group C, and the top two teams in the group will advance to the third stage (Round of 18) and will qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup. Singapore participated in the first stage of the World Asian Preliminary Tournament, where they eliminated Guam with an aggregate score of 3-1 (2-1 in the first leg and 1-0 in the second leg) in the two-legged match. South Korea is the Asian team with the most World Cup finals (11). In this year's World Asian Prelim, Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Gang-in and other European players were all selected into the South Korean team.
In the 6th minute of the first half, South Korea won a free kick on the left side of the front, Son Heung-min took a right-footed curling shot at the goal, Anual fought for the top in front of the goal, and the ball was slightly above the goal crossbar.
In the 11th minute, the South Korean team organized an attack in the middle of the frontfield, and Hwang In-bum received the ball from his teammates outside the arc of the penalty area, and then shot with his left foot, and the ball grazed the post.
In the 16th minute, the South Korean team instigated an offensive on the left side of the front, Hwang Hee-chan took the ball and burst into the penalty area and then volleyed with his right foot, the ball hit Chen Hanwei's leg and refracted, and the ball speed also decreased, and goalkeeper Sonny held the ball.
In the 24th minute, the South Korean team instigated an attack on the right side, Xue Yingyou crossed the ball on the right side, Cho Gyu-sung fought for the top in front of the goal, Lee Jae-seong inserted in front of the goal to grab a point and push, Sonny blocked it but failed to prevent the ball from going into the net. However, the linesman immediately raised the flag to signal offside, and the referee immediately ruled that the goal was invalid.
In the 30th minute, Li Gangren received the pass from his teammates and then broke through the cross along the right side with the ball, Li Zaicheng inserted to the back of the goal, jumped up and grabbed the top of the goal, and Sonny saved the ball bravely in front of the goal.
In the 33rd minute, the South Korean team instigated an offensive on the left side of the frontfield, Lee Ji Di received the ball from his teammates and immediately crossed with his feet, Son Heung-min jumped up to compete with Fandi, and Cho Gyu-sung, who was ambushed in front of the goal, met the ball and volleyed with his right foot, and the ball hit the crossbar of the goal and popped up.
In the 44th minute, Lee Gang-in received the ball from his teammates on the right side of the front field and immediately crossed with his feet, and Cho Gyu-sung stepped forward in time to grab the point in front of the goal and stabbed the shot, 1-0, and the South Korean team broke the deadlock.
At half-time, South Korea temporarily led Singapore 1-0.
Yibian fought again, in the 48th minute, Xue Yingyou took the ball along the right side and crossed the bottom, and Cao Gyucheng, who was ambushed in front of the goal, jumped high to grab the point and shook his head to attack the goal, and the ball was high above the goal crossbar.
In the 50th minute, the South Korean team instigated an offensive on the right side, Cho Gyu-sung received the ball from Lee Gang-in and dribbled along the right side of the bottom cross, Hwang Hee-chan stepped forward to the back of the goal and jumped up to grab the nod mallet to attack the goal, the ball bounced to the ground and flew into the goal, South Korea 2-0.
In the 56th minute, the Singapore team won a free kick in front, Song Yiyong hoisted the ball into the penalty area, Baharuddin's header was ferried, and Anual met the ball in front of the goal. However, the linesman raised the flag to signal offside, and the referee ruled that the goal was invalid.
In the 62nd minute, the South Korean team instigated an attack in the front, Son Heung-min received the ball from his teammates outside the penalty area and immediately took the ball to get rid of the defense and shoot with his left foot, and the ball hung into the net in the dead corner, and the South Korean team took a 3-0 lead.
In the 65th minute, Li Gangren broke through the cross along the right side with the ball, and Son Xingmin stepped forward to the middle to grab the point and stabbed it, and the ball grazed the post.
In the 68th minute, Xue Yingyou burst into the penalty area with the ball and was put down by the opponent's defender, and the South Korean team then got a penalty opportunity.
In the 80th minute, the South Korean team instigated a counterattack, Kim Jin-so received a pass from a teammate and dribbled the ball into the penalty area along the left side and then shot with his right foot, and Sonny held the ball firmly in front of the goal.
In the 85th minute, the South Korean team instigated an attack, Kim Jin-so crossed from the left, the opponent cleared not far away, Lee Gang-in stopped the ball in the penalty area and then scored with a left-footed long-range shot, and the South Korean team won 5-0.
In the end, South Korea beat Singapore 5-0 at home to get off to a good start.
Lineups on both sides
South Korea's starting line-up (4-3-3): 1-Kim Seung-kyu, 2-Lee Ji Di (65 mins, 3-Kim Jin-so), 4-Kim Min-jae, 15-Jung Seung Hyun, 22-Xue Young-woo, 6-Hwang In-beom (70 mins, 13-Lee Soon-min), 18-Lee Gang-in, 10-Lee Jae-seong (65 mins, 17-Jung You-yeong), 7-Son Heung-min, 9-Cho Gyu-sung (65 mins, 16-Hwang Eui-su), 11-Hwang Hee-chan (70 mins, 20-Oh Hyun-hyun);
Singapore starting line-up (5-4-1): 18-Sonny, 2-Nazari (73 mins, 4-Van Heyzen), 21-Baharuddin, 17-Fandi (46 mins, 11-Noor), 15-Tan Han Wei, 3-Nazari (46 mins, 6-Kumar), 13-Shahilan, 22-Mahler, 14-Harun, 7-Song Yiyong (81 mins, 19-Ilhan), 20-Anuar (61 mins, 16-Swandi);