Son Heung-min (third from the right) of the Korean national soccer team assists Lee Kang-in (fourth from the right) in the 9th minute of the second half when Korea was ahead 1-0 in the 2026 North and Central America World Cup Asia 2nd qualifying round 4th match against Thailand on the 26th. After receiving and scoring a goal, Lee Kang-in is hugging and is happy. On this day, Korea won 3-0 over Thailand.
Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in, who had a neck-and-neck fight a day before the Asian Cup semifinals last month, reconciled by sharing a goal and hugging each other. The Korean national soccer team also cruised toward the final World Cup qualifiers.
The national soccer team, with coach Hwang Seon-hong as the temporary head coach, played the 2026 North and Central America World Cup Asia 2nd qualifier Group C 4th match against Thailand held at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on the 26th, thanks to consecutive goals by Lee Jae-seong, Son Heung-min and Park Jin-seop. Won 3-0.
Five days ago, on the 21st, in Seoul, Korea (22nd), who had lost their pride by drawing 1-1 with Thailand (101st), 79 places lower in the FIFA rankings, suffered a crushing defeat. He scored 3 goals and took 3 points in the heartland.
Korea recorded 10 points (3 wins, 1 draw) and maintained first place in Group C, beating China (7 points), which won 4-1 against Singapore that day. Thailand (4 points) is in 3rd place. Korea could secure at least second place and advance to the final preliminary round by adding just one point in the remaining two games. Korea (goal difference +11) is far ahead of Thailand (goal difference -2) in goal difference, so it is very likely that they will advance to the next level even if they lose the remaining two games in a row and Thailand wins two games in a row.
On this day, like the game on the 21st, Korea struggled under pressure from Thailand in the early stages of the game. Thailand’s quick-footed strikers threatened Korea’s back space and gave up a shot to Thai winger Supachok Sarachat two minutes after kickoff. This is the first shot taken by both teams. However, Korea escaped the crisis immediately. Korea attempted several long passes toward Cho Gyu-seong, the starting striker that day, and Thailand, which had put pressure on Korea by raising its line, also used long passes to collapse the space behind them and the gap between the players began to widen. The first goal also came early. In the 19th minute of the first half, Cho Gyu-seong received a penetration pass from Lee Kang-in and hit a shot with his right foot past the goalkeeper from the right side of the penalty area. The ball rolled in front of the goal, collided with Thai defender Thirason Bunmatan in front of the goal line, and was caught by the foot of Lee Jae-seong, who was rushing towards the goal, and split the net. Lee Jae-seong assisted Son Heung-min’s first goal in the match against Thailand on the 21st, and recorded attack points in two consecutive games until this day. In the second half, the ‘Lee Kang-in assist and Son Heung-min goal’ that soccer fans were looking forward to came. In the 9th minute of the second half, Lee Kang-in, who was in front of the penalty area, passed to Son Heung-min on the left, and Son Heung-min beat the opposing defense and scored with a left-footed shot. Son Heung-min’s shot passed between the legs of the Thai goalkeeper and became a goal. As soon as Son Heung-min scored, Lee Kang-in ran to Son Heung-min and the two hugged deeply. Son Heung-min scored his 46th goal in international matches, moving closer to coach Hwang Seon-hong (50 goals), who ranks second in total goals, by 4 goals. Thailand, which had gone on the offensive and scored an equalizer five days ago even after giving up the first goal, seemed to have lost steam after conceding an additional goal today. Korea continued to put pressure on Thailand, and Park Jin-seop’s goal in the 37th minute of the second half put a wedge in the game. Park Jin-seop, who made his A match debut in the second leg of the World Cup 2nd qualifying round against China in November last year, scored his debut goal after 6 games. After the game, Son Heung-min said, “I feel good that we played a good game and achieved good results in hot weather and difficult conditions thanks to the players’ dedication. (Fans) will definitely see it. “We played a great game as a team and I am happy that we won without conceding a goal.” Regarding Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min said, “I think that when playing soccer, there can be fights because each player has a strong competitive spirit. As I have said countless times before, Kang-in is definitely a player who will lead Korean soccer. With this experience as an opportunity, I hope that I can continue my career as an athlete thinking that 50 million people are watching my every action. It’s been a while since I hugged (Lee Kang-in), and he’s really cute. “I hope you do well in the future,” he said. 성인웹툰