The ‘Kim Do-hoon Ho’ A team is finally ‘complete’.
The South Korean national football team, led by interim head coach Kim Do-hoon, kicked off its second training session on Thursday (July 4) at 7:40 p.m. (local time) at the Bishan Stadium in Bishan, Singapore, ahead of its FIFA Confederations Cup North America 2026 Asia Second Qualifying Group C match against Singapore.
The match between South Korea and Singapore will kick off at 9 p.m. on June 6 at The National Stadium in Singapore.
The squad was far from ‘full strength’ during the first training session in the country the previous day (March 3). 홀덤 Only 20 of the 23 players on the roster made it.
Three players who were unable to participate in the first training session joined the squad ahead of the second training session on Thursday. Hong Hyun-seok (Hent) arrived in Singapore on the 4th, while Choi Joon (FC Seoul) and Hwang Jae-won (Daegu FC), who played in the K League on the 2nd, completed their call-ups to the A squad late in the evening on the 3rd.
Now, with all the players together, Kim Do-hoon-ho will start preparing for Singapore. The second training session has just begun.
The players entered the training center to cheers. The first training session the day before didn’t have a crowd of fans, but today, there were about 50 of them. Some fans held up the jerseys of their favorite players. The crowd is a mix of locals and fans from South Korea.
“I came to see Son Heung-min,” said 8-year-old Carrigan Mia, who lives in Singapore. “I’ve been here since 6:30pm. I wanted to come yesterday, but I couldn’t because I had homework,” she laughed, adding, ‘When I see Son Heung-min, I want to say, ’He’s really good.
Meanwhile, after four matches, South Korea leads the group with three wins and a draw (10 points). They sit atop the Group C standings ahead of second-place China (7 points), third-place Thailand (4 points) and last-place Singapore (1 point).
With the first and second place finishers in each group qualifying for the third qualifying round, South Korea will only need to draw with Singapore in Game 5 to secure a spot in the third round, regardless of the outcome of their Game 6 match against China on Nov. 11. Even if South Korea loses Game 5, they can still qualify for the third round if Thailand fails to claim a point.
The task ahead for South Korea in the two-game series is to be a “top-seed shooter” to avoid the “group of death” in the third round.
The World Cup field has expanded from 32 teams to 48 starting with the North America Cup. Asia has also been allocated 8.5 tickets, up from 4.5.
The 18 teams that make it through the second round will be divided into three groups of six teams in the third round. The first- and second-place finishers in each group will receive a direct ticket to the World Cup, while the six third- and fourth-place finishers in each group will be divided into two more groups of three teams to compete once more. The top team in each group will qualify for the World Cup. The second-place teams will play a playoff to determine one team for the intercontinental playoffs.
South Korea, who are virtually guaranteed to qualify for the third round, will have to pay close attention to the FIFA rankings in these two matches.
According to the Korea Football Association, the June FIFA rankings are the basis for seeding the three qualifying groups for the third round of the North and Central American World Cup.
In the April Asian rankings, South Korea (No. 23) was ranked third behind Japan (No. 18) and Iran (No. 20).
With Japan and Iran taking the two top seeds, South Korea and Australia (24th) are battling for the third spot.
South Korea and Australia are separated by just 0.06 FIFA ranking points. With such a small gap, the results of their June A matches could change their positions.