Will the national soccer team’s “Hong Myung-bo” confirm its advance to the World Cup finals early by drawing a trajectory that resembles its predecessor “Bentu?”
The South Korean national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play the 6th away match of Group B of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Palestine at Amman International Stadium in Amman, Jordan, at 11 p.m. on the 19th (Korea time). South Korea, which won 3-1 against Kuwait in the 5th away match on the 14th, has solidified its lead (4 wins, 1 draw, 13 points). It has widened the gap between Jordan and Iraq (eight points or more), which are ranked second and third in terms of goal difference, to five. Oman (six points), Kuwait (three points) and Palestine (two points) are fourth to sixth.
If Korea wins the match against Palestine, which is the last A-match of this year, it will have a gap of up to eight points with the second-ranked team, and will cross the eight-part ridge line to the World Cup finals. In the third preliminary round, the first and second place in each group will be given the right to directly advance to the World Cup finals.
◇ Bento’s team is also confirmed to advance to the finals after 8 games…What about you, Hong Myung Bo Ho?
The number of participating teams in the North-China World Cup has increased from 32 to 48, and the number of tickets to the finals in Asia has also increased from 4.5 to 8.5. Even if the team does not rank second in the third preliminary round A to C, the teams that rank third and fourth will compete again in two groups, each from three countries. The top-ranked team will have two tickets to the finals, and the second-ranked team will compete with each other to determine which team will advance to the intercontinental playoff.
A team that is looking at the round of 16 or higher in the World Cup like South Korea should confirm its advance to the finals as early as possible. South Korea won 2-0 in the eighth Group A match of the final qualifying round for the World Cup against Syria and Qatar in February 2022 under Paulo Bento, securing at least second place in the group with two remaining games to play, and confirming its advance to the finals. In the 2014 Brazil World Cup and the 2018 Russia World Cup, it was not known until the final qualifying round. I managed to get the ticket.
Team Bento didn’t get off to a good start. They ended up with a 0-0 draw with Iraq in the first round at home. However, they are on a steady track. They had a valuable draw at the fourth round (-1 draw) away from Iran, which was the most important issue, and managed to advance to the finals early on by garnering three consecutive wins.
Team Hong Myung-bo is similar. Like Bento, they were in the same group with five Middle Eastern countries. They tied the weak Palestinians 0-0 in the first home game on Sept. 5 in an chaotic atmosphere. The militant political faction Hamas and Israel have faced heavy criticism for their continued war in Gaza and their draw with Palestine, which is not running properly.
With the team’s zero score in place, the team has taken on an upturn. Starting with the second away match against Oman (3-1 win) on Sept. 10, the team secured four consecutive wins by capturing Jordan (2-0 win), Iraq (3-2 win) and Kuwait. If the team secures the sixth match against the Palestinians, it may also be able to confirm its advance to the finals in the seventh match against Oman, 온라인바카라 which will be held at its home turf in March next year, depending on the result of other teams.
First of all, like Bento, he is showing off more performance than expected. Bento’s team had three wins and two draws until the fifth game at that time. He scored five goals and two runs. Hong Myung-bo has four wins and one draw, 11 goals and four runs. In addition to his main players such as Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in, and Kim Min-jae, Hong Myung-bo’s young players like Bae Joon-ho, Oh Hyun-kyu and Oh Se-hoon are creating synergy. Korea’s final goal is to make the World Cup finals a success. To do that, generational change and new and old harmony are essential. Currently, the national team is full of new momentum with new faces that have not been seen in recent years. It remains to be seen whether he will draw a positive future in the match against Palestine.