What if Hong Myung-bo, who is going to the World Cup, loses two games with one draw
What if Hong Myung-bo, who is going to the World Cup, loses two games with one draw
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The Korean men's soccer team led by head coach Hong Myung-bo has gained the upper hand to advance to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals in North Korea and the U.S. There are limited scenarios in which Korea cannot secure at least the second place in its group.
As of the 27th, Hong Myung-bo is ranked first in Group B of the third qualifying round for the World Cup in Asia.
It is undefeated with four wins and four draws, but it is not a safe lead.
Following a 1-1 draw in Game 7 against Oman on the 20th, Game 8 against Jordan on the 25th also drew 1-1.
With two straight A-match draws in March, he failed to widen the gap with second-place Jordan (13 points) and third-place Iraq (12 points).
Early confirmation of the finals through the results of the A match in March was also canceled.
If they had won both the match against Oman and Jordan, they could have made 11 consecutive World Cup finals on their own, but it was postponed to June.
As the winless streak was prolonged, the group's leader, Suseong, was lit up with a red light, but it became more likely to advance to the finals.
South Korea will secure at least the second place in the group if it scores just one point against Iraq (away) and Kuwait (home) at the A-match in June.
There are 8.5 tickets to the finals allocated to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries at the North-China World Cup.
In the third qualifying round, the first and second places in each group will go straight to the finals, and the third and fourth places will play the fourth qualifying round to decide whether to go to North Korea and China and the U.S.
In other words, Korea can play in the World Cup finals with just one draw.
South Korea, ranked 23rd in the FIFA rankings, is unlikely to lose to Iraq, ranked 56th, and Kuwait, ranked 134th.
South Korea also won in both preliminary matches against them in October and November last year.
As an old adage in the soccer community says, "A soccer ball is round," there is no strong team. Korea was evaluated as capable of winning games against weak teams Oman and Jordan, but the team ended up with two consecutive draws.
Fortunately, even if South Korea loses two games in the worst situation, there are not many cases where it cannot reach the World Cup finals in the third qualifying round.
This is why Iraq, ranked third, will face South Korea and Jordan, who are competing for the top ranks in the 9th and 10th games.
When South Korea has lost two consecutive games, Jordan can go to the finals as second place in the group if they have two wins.
In this case, Korea will have 16 points, while Jordan, which beat Oman and Iraq in succession, will have 19 points. Iraq, which recorded one win and one loss at the A-match in June, only ranks third with 15 points.
If Jordan and Iraq record one win and one loss side by side, South Korea can go to North Korea, China, and the U.S. even when it has two losses in Jordan and two wins in Iraq.
However, if Jordan wins the match against Oman and ties with Iraq, it will be a bad news for South Korea.
In this case, Jordan has 17 points, while Iraq and South Korea have 16 points. At this time, the difference between gains and losses must be calculated.
As of the end of Game 8, Korea has +7 gain and loss, and Iraq has +1. Korea has an advantage.
If Jordan has one win and one loss and Iraq has two wins, Korea and Jordan will have to equalize to 16 points to compete for the second place. In this case, the rankings are divided by the difference between gains and losses.
South Korea is +7 and Jordan is +6. There is only one point difference. 안전놀이터
Even if South Korea loses, South Korea can achieve second place only when it loses by as few runs as possible and Jordan loses by a greater margin than South Korea's combined runs in Games 9 and 10.