Having been paired with four Middle Eastern nations in the final World Cup qualifying round, South Korea will likely have to deal with some frustrating time-wasting antics. In Group A of the final Asian qualification stage for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, South Korea will take on Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Syria and Lebanon. Those countries are particularly famous for resorting to m...

DAEJEON -- Special limited medals produced to celebrate the distinguished career of Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min went on sale Monday, according to the state-run minting agency. Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp. (KOMSCO) said the medals themed on the 28-year-old striker for Tottenham Hotspur in two designs -- coin and paper money -- are available fo...

Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min wasn't selected for his country's Olympic football team despite getting permission from his English Premier League club, an informed source said Thursday. Son, 28, was not picked as an overage player for South Korea's under-24 football team for the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday. The Olympic football tournament is typically reserved for players u...

French league striker Hwang Ui-jo will lead South Korea's attack in their bid for an Olympic men's football medal in Japan this summer. Hwang was one of 18 players named to the South Korean men's Olympic team Wednesday. Head coach Kim Hak-bum unveiled two goalkeepers, six defenders, five midfielders and five forwards at a press conference in Seoul. The Olympic men's football tournament is typic...

With a goal in each half, South Korea beat Ghana 2-1 on Tuesday in a crucial men‘s football prep match for the Tokyo Olympics. SC Freiburg midfielder Jeong Woo-yeong opened the scoring for the hosts in the 41st minute at Jeju World Cup Stadium in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, with second-half substitute Lee Dong-jun netting the go-ahead goal in the 65th. South Korea won the first game over Ghana 3-1 l...

And there will be 18. That's the size of the South Korean men's football roster for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Head coach Kim Hak-bum will get a couple of opportunities to test Olympic hopefuls starting Saturday, when the first of two tuneup matches against Ghana will be played in Jeju Island. The kickoff is 7 p.m. at Jeju World Cup Stadium in the city of Seogwipo. Kim called up 28 players f...

Forward Kim Shin-wook had a brace and teen sensation Jeong Sang-bin scored in his international debut, helping South Korea beat up on Sri Lanka 5-0 in a World Cup qualifying match at home on Wednesday. Hwang Hee-chan and Lee Dong-gyeong had a goal apiece against 10-man Sri Lanka at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, as South Korea remained atop Group H in the second round of the Asian ...

As attested by a convincing 5-0 victory over Turkmenistan over the weekend, there's clearly very little, if anything, wrong with South Korea in the ongoing World Cup qualifying campaign. On the eve of the next qualifier against Sri Lanka at home, South Korea head coach Paulo Bento said Tuesday he isn't about to fix anything that isn't broken. "We have not changed our style of play so far, and t...

In preparing for two remaining matches in the second round of the Asian qualifying for the next World Cup, South Korean defensive back Kim Min-jae said Monday he wanted to string together two more clean sheets. He may well have been speaking for the rest of his team, with South Korea set to face the heavy underdogs Sri Lanka on Wednesday. It will be the second of three qualifiers for the 2022 F...

Tributes have been flooding in from around the football world for Yoo Sang-chul, a star of the semifinalist South Korean team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup who passed away Monday night at 49. Yoo succumbed to pancreatic cancer after a battle that began in November 2019. One of the most versatile players in South Korean football history, Yoo made the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team in 2002 as a midfiel...

That's more like it. That South Korea defeated Turkmenistan 5-0 in their World Cup qualifying match on Saturday wasn't a surprise in itself. The biggest takeaway is that South Korea, in addition to beating the team they were supposed to beat, looked good doing it. And that hadn't always been the case with the underachieving national team in recent matches. The win at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, ...

With South Korea set to resume their World Cup qualifying campaign on home soil on the weekend, national team head coach Paulo Bento is metaphorically putting on his noise-canceling headphones. Bento finds himself in the hot seat after South Korea dropped a friendly match to rivals Japan 3-0 in March, a result that led to growing calls for the Portuguese coach's dismissal. Bento hasn't gone any...

After a pandemic-induced hiatus of more than a year, South Korea will resume their bid for a 10th consecutive FIFA World Cup appearance on the weekend on home soil. The boys in red will also try to redeem themselves after a humiliating loss to rivals Japan in spring. The second round of the Asian qualification for the 2022 World Cup has been on hold since November 2019. South Korea and the rest...

South Korean midfielder Kwon Chang-hoon is training with the senior national team this week in preparation for World Cup qualifying matches later this month, but he could be forgiven for thinking instead about the Tokyo Olympics in July. As a 26-year-old, Kwon wouldn't normally be eligible for the Olympic tournament, which is limited to players 23 or younger, though the age limit has been extend...

Lee Dong-jun and Um Won-sang, both participating in the South Korean men's Olympic team training camp, bring much of the same qualities to the table. As two of the fastest players on the 28-man roster, the two forwards can keep opponents on their toes, find open space behind the defense and provide instant spark off the bench in a tight match. When head coach Kim Hak-bum sets his final, 18-man t...