The South Korean and Thai national teams will face each other in two matches on March 21st and 26th, as part of Group C of the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the Asian region. The first match is scheduled to take place at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea. The return match will then be played at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Prior to these matches, the South Korean national team was facing a personnel crisis. The team had just sacked coach Jurgen Klinsmann (a German), and temporarily lacked a head coach.
In addition, the two most expensive and famous stars of South Korean football, Son Heung-min (currently playing for Tottenham in England) and Lee Kang-in (playing for PSG in France), face disciplinary action from the Korea Football Association (KFA) for fighting before the 2023 Asian Cup semi-final match between South Korea and Jordan.
The South Korean national team has lost coach Jurgen Klinsmann and risks losing Son Heung-min as well in March.
Thai media immediately saw this as good news for the Thai national team. Siam Sport commented: "Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in may not be able to play in the South Korea vs. Thailand matches, but Thailand's coach Masatada Ishii (from Japan) can smile."
South Korean media outlets believe these players will not be called up to the national team for the World Cup qualifiers due to disciplinary violations. They were involved in a fight during the 2023 Asian Cup," Siam Sport added.
Of course, in any case, the South Korean team is still far stronger than the Thai team. However, with South Korea missing key players, the chances for the Thai team will increase slightly.
At the recently concluded Asian Championship in Qatar, Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in each scored 3 goals. They were the top scorers for the South Korean national team at the recent Asian Cup. Therefore, if they are not called up to the national team, South Korea's attack will be weakened to some extent.
Furthermore, as long as the South Korean national team continues to delay appointing a new coach, the time available for this new coach to prepare for the World Cup qualifying matches against Thailand will dwindle. This would be another positive sign for the Thai team.
The Thai national team (in white jerseys) declares they have a better chance in the World Cup qualifiers.
In Group C of the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the Asian region, South Korea is leading the group with 6 points after 2 matches. Thailand has 3 points and is in second place (Thailand has the same number of points as China but a better goal difference). Thailand's goal is to secure the second qualifying spot in this group to advance to the third round.
Source link
Comment (0)