Song Eui-young, a “Korean-born” who has naturalized in Singapore and plays for the national soccer team as the No. 7, told the story of Son Heung-min.

Jürgen Klinsmann’s men’s national soccer team defeated Singapore 5-0 at home in their first Group C match of the second round of qualifying for the 2026 North American Football Championship at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Saturday at 8 p.m. The same day, China defeated Thailand 2-1 in the other Group C match to give South Korea the top spot in the group.

The Koreans, who will begin their first gateway to the 2026 North America Cup, will open their Asian qualifying campaign in Group C on Saturday against Singapore at the Seoul World Cup Stadium and away to China on Sunday. The Koreans are also drawn with Thailand, who they will play home and away to determine who will finish second in the group. 무지개토토

It wasn’t until the 44th minute that South Korea opened the scoring. Lee Kang-in’s left-footed diagonal cross from the right was met by Cho Kyu-sung, who beat the offside line and slotted home a no-mark left-footed shot in front of the keeper to make it 1-0.

Four minutes into the second half, Cho Kyu-sung crossed the ball from the right side after Lee Kang-in’s dribbling breakthrough on the right, and Hwang Hee-chan raced in at the far post to slot home a low header to make it 2-0.

Captain Son Heung-min also struck. In the 18th minute of the second half, Son scored the third goal with an exquisite left-footed curler from the center of the box just outside the box.

In the 21st minute, when Seol Young-woo received a pass on the right side of the box, naturalized player Song Eui-young tripped him from behind and a penalty kick was awarded. Hwang Eui-jo stepped up to take the spot kick and slotted it to the left with his right foot. South Korea added a goal from Lee Kang-in in the 40th minute to make it 5-0.

We caught up with Song Eui-young, who was born in South Korea but naturalized in Singapore and played for the Singapore national team on the day, in the Mix Zone. He said, “It’s a new feeling to be in Seoul. It’s been five years since my family in Korea has seen me play due to the coronavirus, but they came today. I’m just so grateful,” he said.

Song added that he admires Son Heung-min, saying, “(Kim) Shin-wook told me how Heung-min has grown into a world-class player. I was proud to be able to greet him on this day.”

On playing in front of 60,000 Korean fans, Kim said, “I felt a lot of pressure when I saw all the support. I thought it would be new and nice to hear the cheers in Korean, but it was more intimidating.”