South Korea’s English Premier League strike force of Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan both scored as they beat Oman 3-1 in Muscat at the 2026 World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday.
Wolverhampton’s Hwang opened the scoring after 19 minutes before Jung Seungh-hyun’s own goal equalized on the stroke of half-time.
Tottenham’s Son got South Korea’s second, turning outside the box and firing home an unstoppable left-foot finish on 82 minutes.
Joo Min-kyu put the result beyond doubt in the 11th minute of added time after being played in by Son.
It was South Korea’s first win in the final Asian qualifying phase after they were held goalless at home by Palestine last week.
South Korea have endured a difficult week, with fans jeering new coach Hong Myung-bo before the Palestine stalemate and defender Kim Min-jae confronting supporters after the game.
Tottenham striker Son praised his team-mates for sticking together.
“Winning never gets old,” Son told reporters in Muscat.
“And to keep winning, everyone has to sacrifice and work hard.
“And I think everyone did their part today, and that’s why we were able to come away with such a good result,” he added.
“We’ll try to play the best match of our lives every time out,” said Son.
“Asian teams have made so much progress that as an Asian myself, it makes me proud. It was great to play such a high-quality match, and we’ll have to work even harder.”
South Korea’s next game is on Oct. 10 away to Jordan, who beat them in the Asian Cup semi-finals at the start of the year.
The Koreans then face Iraq at home five days later.
“We have eight matches to go and that means we have eight more opportunities to play our best,” said Son.
“If we can play with confidence like we did today, I believe we will be in good shape.”
The Palestinians on Tuesday could not repeat their heroic performance in Seoul, however, and were beaten 3-1 by Jordan in a match played in Kuala Lumpur because of the war in Gaza.
North Korea drew 2-2 with Asian Cup champions Qatar in wild weather in a Group A match played in Vientiane.
Ri Il Song gave North Korea an early lead, in what was nominally their home fixture, before they were reduced to 10 men when Jang Kuk Chol was red carded for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity.
Akram Afif scored the resulting penalty and Almoez Ali put the Qataris 2-1 up at half-time.
After the break, the heavens opened violently, dumping huge amounts of water on the Laos National Stadium pitch.
Kang Kuk Chol pierced the gloom with a rasping free-kick equalizer from 30 yards before puddles on the pitch grew into lakes leaving the referee no choice but to take the players off.
There was a delay of more than 20 minutes until the rain eased but when the teams resumed there were no further goals as the players struggled on the waterlogged surface.
The top two teams from each of the three six-team Asian groups will be guaranteed a place at the expanded 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The third qualifying round wraps up in June.
