Will South Korea pass the first round gate of the fourth tournament of the World Cup finals
Will South Korea pass the first round gate of the fourth tournament of the World Cup finals
Blog Article
Can Korean soccer achieve its dream of passing the first round gate of the fourth tournament in history at the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals in Canada, the United States, and Mexico in June next year?
South Korea's soccer team won 2-0 against Iraq in the ninth match of the final Group B (third) qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup in Asia at Basra International Stadium in Iraq on the 6th (Korea time), recording five wins, four draws and 19 unbeaten points.
Regardless of the outcome of the 10th match against Kuwait that will take place at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sunday, Korea has secured a berth to the finals of next year's World Cup finals along with Iran and Japan. Korea is the only Asian country that has secured a berth to the finals of 11 consecutive World Cups (12 times in total).
Korea is the sixth country in the world to advance to World Cup finals at more than 11 consecutive times, following Brazil (22), Germany (18), Italy, Argentina (14 or more), and Spain (12 or more). This is a new record that even the U.K., the closing price of soccer, failed to achieve.
From next year, 48 countries will compete in the World Cup finals
However, the stage for the World Cup finals, in which the world's 48 strongest teams compete, is tough. Until the 2022 Qatar tournament, the world's 32 strongest teams that advanced to the finals were divided into eight groups and advanced to the tournament where the round of 16 teams competed in a knockdown manner until the second place, but from the 2026 North and Central American tournaments, 32 teams were changed to play in the tournament, including the first and second-ranked teams, the 24th and the 8th-ranked teams that passed the qualifying league.
Except for the 17th World Cup that was held on home ground in 2002, the Korean soccer team played in two away World Cup tournaments. They are the 2010 South African Games and the 2022 Qatar Games.
The South Korean team, led by coach Huh Jung-moo in the South African tournament, reached the first round of the tournament, where the round of 16 teams will compete with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss in the qualifying league, but lost to Uruguay by 1 to 2, failing to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Korean team also succeeded in advancing to the tournament with one win, one draw and one loss at the Qatar tournament, which was led by head coach Paulo Bento (Portugal), but failed to reach the quarterfinals by kneeling 1-4 against Brazil.
South Korea, which first played in the 1954 World Cup finals in Switzerland, lost 0-9 to Hungary and 0-7 to Turkey, and has eight wins, nine draws and 21 losses in 38 matches in 12 World Cup finals in 68 years, from the 1986 Mexico World Cup to the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Excluding the four wins, one draw and two losses at the 2002 World Cup Korea-Japan, which advanced to the semifinals, the team had four wins, eight draws and 19 losses at away World Cups. The four victims in away World Cups are Togo (2-1) at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Greece (2-0) at the 2010 South Africa, Germany (2-0) at the 2018 Russia World Cup, and Portugal (2-1) at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
This demonstrates how difficult it is to win the World Cup finals. For this reason, it is not easy for the Korean team to pass the group qualifying round for the fourth time in the history of the 2026 World Cup finals in North Korea and the U.S.
Coach Hong Myung-bo (56), who passed the Asian qualifying round with an unbeaten record, remained tight-lipped, saying, "The qualifying round may have been suspended, but the finals will be more difficult." He has no choice but to prepare himself for competition with soccer powers through thorough preparation.
President Lee Jae-myung congratulates FIFA President Infantino as well
Meanwhile, 스포츠토토 President Lee Jae-myung wrote on his Facebook page on the 6th, "I sincerely congratulate the Korean national soccer team on advancing to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals."
FIFA President Gianni Infantino also sent a letter to President Chung Mong-kyu of the Korea Football Association on the same day to congratulate South Korean soccer on its advance to the 2026 North-China World Cup finals, the Korea Football Association said.
Two of the BBC's 'Extraordinary 21st Century Football' cases in Korea
The BBC mentioned Korean soccer twice among the "10 Girls of 21st Century Football" selected on November 16, 2022. One cited that South Korea was dragged 0-1 by Italy in the round of 16 at the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, before Seol Ki-hyun scored an equalizer two minutes before the end and won the game with Ahn Jung-hwan's winning goal in the second half of extra time. Another suggested the possibility of the development of Korean soccer by summoning the team that defeated Germany, the winner of all tournaments, 2-0 at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.