Muscat: South Korean superstar Son Heung-Min turned on the style with great involvement in the match to score one and gave assists for their two other goals as they beat hosts Oman 3-1 in an entertaining World Cup 2026 Asian qualifier Group B match in Muscat on Tuesday.
This was Oman’s second straight loss in Group B after their opening 1-0 loss to Iraq in Baghdad. Oman are at the bottom of the group with no points. South Korea boosted their position to second in the group with four points behind leaders Jordan on the same points after they beat Palestine 3-1.
At the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Hwang Hee-Chan put the Koreans in the lead in the 10th minute. Oman equalised in the injury time of the first-half through an own goal by the South Korean defender.
Captain Son put South Korea in lead in the 82nd minute while Joo Min-Kyu netted the third goal for them in the 11th minute of added time. Oman were cheered by home fans as the stadium attendance was 27,144 for the match.
The qualifier started with South Korea pressing ahead with continuous attacks. In the fourth minute, Lee Kang-In’s dangerous shot was acrobatically saved by Oman goalkeeper Ibrahim al Mukhaini. Their early push yielded results as Hwang Hee-Chan scored in the 10th minute to give a 1-0 lead to South Korea. Son gave a nice assist from the left flank as Hee-Chan’s right-footed shot from outside the box entered the bottom left corner of Oman goal.
In the 20th minute, Lee Myung-Jae’s left-footed shot from outside the box was brilliantly saved by Oman keeper Al Mukhani to avoid any addition to the South Korean score. Next up, Oman’s Abdulah Fawaz cleared a Korean attack with a sliding tackle.
In the 23rd minute, South Korea came up with another attempt as Oman defence cleared it for a corner. Hwang In-Beom’s left-footed shot from outside the box missed to the right after a header assist by Hwang Hee-Chan following a corner.
In the 25th minute, Hwang In-Beom gave a pass to Jung Seung-Hyun whose shot to the bottom right corner was saved by the Oman goalkeeper. Oman then slowly started to organise attacks and Ali al Busaidy’s left-footed shot from outside the box was too high after a pass from Abdullah Fawaz in the 31st minute.
EQUALISER
In the 37th minute, Jameel al Yahmadi’s right-footed shot from the right side of the box after a header pass from Amjad al Harthi went close but missed to the right. As it seemed the Koreans would go to the break with a 1-0 lead, Oman struck the equaliser.
In the additional time of first-half, Mohammed al Musallami won a free kick for Oman on the left wing after a foul by Seol Young-Woo, who got a yellow card. The free kick taken by Harib al Saadi was headed narrowly by Abdul Rahman al Mushaifri but was deflected by South Korean defender Jung Seung-Hyun to his own net to make it one-all at the half-time.
In the second-half, Oman survived a penalty appeal on VAR in the 52nd minute. Looking for a winner, Oman head coach Jaroslav Silhavy replaced Nasser al Rawahi with Omar al Malki in the 65th minute. In the next minute, Oman was forced for an injury substitution when Khalid al Braiki replaced Ahmed al Khamisi.
In the 68th minute, South Korean manager Myong-Bo Hong opted for a double substitution. Lee Jae-Sung and Hwang Mun-Ki came in for Oh Se-Hun and Seol Young Woo respectively. In the 69th minute, Oman missed a great opportunity when Muhsen al Ghassani failed to give a good pass to his on-rushing teammate at the Korean box with only goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-Woo to beat. In the 79th minute, Oman replaced defender Mohammed al Musallami with Ghanim al Habashi and midfielder Abdul Rahman al Mushaifri with striker Issam al Subhi.
SON ACT
In the 82nd minute, Son came into act again as his left-footed shot from outside the box beat Ibrahim al Mukhaini to the bottom left corner for a 2-1 lead for South Korea. Lee Kang-In gave the key assist.
In the 85th minute, Korea Republic brought in Jung Woo-Young in place of Park Yong-Woo.
In the 88th minute, Ali al Busaidy’s shot missed the target narrowly for a corner after a pass from Zahir al Aghbari. In the next minute, Al Busaidy’s brilliant cross came dangerously close to the goal. Referee gave 16 minutes of added time after the second half as injuries and humid conditions took away some time during the match.
In the 11th minute of added time, Son provided another vital assist as Joo Min-Kyu made no mistake with his right-footed shot from outside of the box to the bottom left corner of the Omani goal.
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