SINGAPORE (AFP) – PSG's Lee Kang-in and Tottenham's Son Heung-min both scored twice as South Korea trounced Singapore 7-0 on Thursday to seal their passage into the final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Watched by a crowd of 49,097 at Singapore's National Stadium, the visitors took the lead after nine minutes when Son was denied by a fine save by Hassan Sunny but Joo Min-kyu retrieved the loose ball and laid it off for Lee to fire home a fierce right-footer.
Singapore twice went close to levelling the score as Hami Syahin's header forced a save from Jo Hyeon-woo and Ikhsan Fandi headed over from close range.
But the Koreans extended their lead in the 20th minute when Kim Jin-su's cross from the left was headed in by an unmarked Joo.
Singapore came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with China in their last home game but the South Koreans put the game away with a spell of three goals in four minutes at the start of the second half.
Son made it 3-0 in the 53rd minute when he received the ball on the right flank and cut inside Harhys Stewart before firing a low shot past Hassan.
Lee then capitalised on poor defending a minute later to add his second before Son got Korea's fifth shortly afterwards in a near carbon copy of his first goal.
Son was denied a hat-trick when Hassan tipped aside another curling effort.
"When you look at the result today, most people might probably say that the Singapore team is really poor but it wasn’t the case," said Son, the South Korea captain.
"They fought hard but we were more clinical and we took our chances really well."
Late goals by substitutes Bae Jun-ho and Hwang Hee-chan sealed the emphatic win for the South Koreans who sealed top spot in Group C with a game to spare.