South Korea’s Do Hoon Kim, who has led the national soccer team as interim coach, has expressed his wish for an early appointment.
Kim’s men defeated China 1-0 in the sixth match of Group C of the 2026 FIFA World Cup North America 2018 Asia Second Qualifying Round at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Nov. 11, thanks to a 16th-minute goal from Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain). After finishing the second round of qualifying with five wins, one draw, and 20 goals scored and one conceded, Kim Do-Hoon-ho leads Group C with 16 points, good enough to qualify for the third round.
“I congratulate my players for not making any mistakes and bringing home the win against China, who were desperate to keep their chances of qualifying for the third round alive,” said Kim, who took over on an interim basis and won the fifth game against Singapore (7-0) and the final game against China. “Thanks to the support of our fans, we were able to stay focused and maintain our performance.”
As he hangs up his boots for the last time, Kim has some advice for the third qualifier. “We are fortunate to have fast players and we are good at playing football that utilizes them,” he said, “but we also need to develop the strength to take control of the game and turn the tide in our favor.”
He points to the World Cup finals in Qatar as a good example. “We proved it at the World Cup in Qatar. We need to improve our positioning and balance while possessing the ball and controlling the flow in order to fully utilize our players’ abilities,” Kim said. ‘Korea needs to play active soccer, soccer that utilizes our strengths to produce good results,’ he added.
“When I came in, I felt honored and happy just to be with these players,” said Kim, who is in his first national team coaching experience after managing Incheon 사설토토 United, Ulsan Hyundai (K League), and Ryan City (Singapore). “The players are very self-disciplined and they know themselves, so it was easy for me to lead (the team).”
“I hope I won’t be the last interim coach of the Korean national soccer team,” Kim said, “I had a lot of pressure and thought I had to do a good job, but the players responded well. The players were united around Son Heung-min, so we were able to achieve important results at important times.”
After qualifying from the second round, South Korea will now face their final challenge to qualify for the tournament at the third Asian qualifier in September. South Korea, ranked 23rd in the FIFA rankings, clinched the third spot in Asia with the win over China, ahead of Australia. The team secured the top seed, which is awarded to the top 1-3 in the FIFA rankings, and avoided Japan (No. 18) and Iran (No. 20).
With a total of 18 teams competing in three groups of six teams, the first six teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage. The six teams in third through fourth place in each group will have to play a playoff for the remaining 2.5 qualifying spots.