HONG KONG: South Korea secured a 2-0 victory over Jordan in Amman on Thursday, propelling them to the top of Group ‘B’ in the third round of Asia’s World Cup preliminaries. This win marked the second consecutive victory for under-pressure coach Hong Myung-bo, following the team’s recent success against Palestine.
With this latest triumph, the Koreans now boast seven points from three matches, strengthening their bid to maintain their streak of qualifying for every World Cup since 1986. Despite missing their injured captain Son Heung-min, South Korea showed resilience, with Lee Jae-sung scoring the opener with a header in the 38th minute. Oh Hyeong-gu then doubled the lead 23 minutes into the second half, cleverly wrong-footing Jordanian goalkeeper Yazeed Abulaila to score from inside the area.
In Group ‘A’, Uzbekistan faced a disappointing outcome, managing only a 0-0 draw against Iran despite having a one-man advantage for the final 35 minutes of the match. The Iranian defense held firm after defender Saleh Hardani received a red card just 10 minutes into the second half for a dangerous tackle on Uzbekistan captain Eldor Shomurodov.
Meanwhile, Australia recorded their first win of the campaign under new coach Tony Popovic, achieving a 3-1 victory over China in Adelaide. Home-town favorite Craig Goodwin was instrumental in the win, scoring a powerful long-range strike in the 53rd minute after assisting the first goal with a free kick headed in by Lewis Miller just before halftime, which had leveled the score after Xie Wenneng had given China the lead.
Nishan Velupillay sealed the victory with a stoppage-time goal, marking a successful international debut. This win revitalized Australia’s hopes of securing a top-two finish in the qualifying phase, which would grant them an automatic ticket to the 2026 World Cup finals.
“I think we did really well, even in the first half. China were very, very compact,” said Saudi-based Goodwin. “Hats off to the boys; we were 1-0 down, and after the first two games with the results we had, we could have gone into our shell.”
China continues to struggle in Group ‘C’, remaining winless and having conceded 12 goals in their three qualifiers. The top two teams in each group automatically qualify for the World Cup, while the third and fourth-placed teams will enter another round of preliminaries
