South Korea sets record, China avoids bottom spot

(Dan Tri) - South Korea easily won a big victory over Kuwait with a score of 4-0, while China defeated Bahrain thanks to a late penalty in the final round of the third qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup.

Despite having secured a direct ticket to the 2026 World Cup finals, the Korean team still played with great dedication when hosting bottom-placed Kuwait at home in Seoul in the final match of the third qualifying round on the evening of June 10.

With their superior class, the Korean team created great pressure in front of the visitors' goal. However, it took the first half hour of the first half for the team from the land of Kim Chi to score the opening goal.

The South Korean team had no difficulty against Kuwait in the final match of the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup (Photo: Yonhap).

From the home team's corner kick, Jeon Jin Woo headed the ball into the defender Al Hajeri and changed direction, leaving Abdulghafoor helpless to block. Despite conceding a goal, the Kuwaiti players still played very resiliently and the score of 1-0 in favor of Korea remained until the end of the first half.

In the second half, Korea continued to create a one-sided game but their scoring became sharper. In the 51st minute, striker Lee Kang In broke free and finished decisively from a narrow angle to help Korea raise the score to 2-0.

Just 3 minutes later, it was Oh Hyeon Gyu's turn to put his name on the scoreboard. That was the situation where midfielder Bae Jun Ho headed the ball from the right wing, Oh Hyeon Gyu turned and finished with his right foot, sending the ball into the net of goalkeeper Abdulghafoor.

The Korean team finished the third qualifying round with 6 wins and 4 draws (Photo: Yonhap).

Coach Hong Myung Bo replaced Bae Jun Ho and Jeon Jin Woo with Lee Jae Seong and Park Seung Wook in the 69th minute of the second half. The effect was immediate. Lee Jae Seong scored the fourth goal for Korea in the 72nd minute, which also sealed the victory for the Korean team.

With this big win, South Korea ended the World Cup qualifying round with a historic milestone when they went undefeated in both the second and third qualifying rounds, an achievement repeated for the first time in 16 years since 2009.

In the same match, the Chinese team was lucky to win against the Bahrain team thanks to a penalty kick in the final minute of extra time.

This is a match of honor for both teams as China and Bahrain have run out of chances to compete for a place in the 4th qualifying round, as they are 6 points behind the 4th ranked team, Indonesia, before the final match.

Striker Wang Yudong took off his shirt to celebrate after scoring the only goal in the match to help the Chinese team defeat Bahrain (Photo: Sina).

Despite the cheers of a large home crowd, the Chinese team was unable to overcome the visitors' solid defense. The surprise happened in the 90+3 minute of extra time when Bahrain's Al Eker handled the ball in the penalty area, causing the home team to concede a penalty.

On the 11m mark, 18-year-old striker Wang Yudong calmly fooled goalkeeper Lutfallah to score the only goal of the match. This victory helped the Chinese team to take 5th place overall, pushing Bahrain to the bottom of the table and finishing Group C with 9 points after 10 matches.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/han-quoc-lap-ky-luc-trung-quoc-tranh-duoc-vi-tri-cuoi-bang-20250610205644993.htm