Men’s A match held for the first time at Yongin Mir Stadium
Training in Yongin on the 13th and 14th… Players are satisfied with the condition of the turf
Hong Myung-Boho, who returned home with a light foot after defeating Jordan on the road, focuses on adapting to the unfamiliar home stadium for the match against Iraq, which is two days away.
The national soccer team, led by coach Hong Myung-bo, will play the 4th match against Iraq in Group B of the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup Asia 3rd qualifying round at Yongin Mir Stadium at 8 p.m. on the 15th.
Initially, the Korea Football Association planned to hold the Iraq match at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, but due to grass problems, the match was moved to Yongin Mir Stadium.
Due to a combination of heat waves, performance rentals, and poor management, the grass at Seoul World Cup Stadium was in poor condition, which also affected the players’ performance. Korea got off to a bad start with a 0-0 draw with Palestine in the first match of the third preliminary round held at Seoul World Cup Stadium last month. Captain Son Heung-min (Tottenham) said, “I had trouble handling the ball because the grass was in bad condition. “I hope this problem can be improved,” he said, raising his voice.
The Taegeuk Warriors welcomed the opportunity to play at Yongin Mir Stadium, where the grass is in better condition than Seoul World Cup Stadium. National team ‘ace’ Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) said, “I am grateful to be playing at Yongin Mir Stadium, where the grass is in good condition. “I will show better play in return for this,” he pledged.
The environment was better than a month ago, but the challenge of quickly adapting to an unfamiliar living room was also given.
The Iraq match is the first time that a men’s soccer A match is held at Yongin Mir Stadium, which opened in 2018. There were almost no national team games or even professional team games.
K League 2 (2nd Division) Suwon Samsung has been using Yongin Mir Stadium as a temporary home stadium since last August due to turf repair work at the existing Suwon World Cup Stadium, but the national team, which is composed of overseas players and K League 1 (1st Division) players, I don’t have much experience playing here.
In July 2021, ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics finals, the Olympic team played a friendly match against Argentina at Yongin Mir Stadium, and three players, including Lee Kang-in, Seol Young-woo (Zvezda), and Dong-kyung Lee (Gimcheon), who played at the time, had a brief experience.
For this reason, coach Hong Myung-bo also decided to train at Yongin Mir Stadium for two days on the 13th and 14th to adapt.
The national team had been training at a stadium geographically close to their accommodation, but the day before the game, they visited the stadium where the game was being held and completed their final training. This is because there was no need for additional training to adapt to the Seoul World Cup Stadium, where numerous games were played while minimizing player fatigue as much as possible. But this time things changed.
As the game against Iraq is a very important game that can give us the green light to advance to the finals of the 11th consecutive World Cup, we are preparing diligently from start to finish. Among them, adapting to the stadium is a big task.
Korea and Iraq, who each have 2 wins and 1 draw (7 points), are ranked 1st and 2nd in Group B according to goal difference (Korea +4, Iraq +2). Behind them were Jordan (4 points), Oman (3 points), Kuwait (2 points), and Palestine (1 point).
In the third preliminary round, which is the final preliminary concept, the first and second place winners from each group will advance to the World Cup finals. The 3rd and 4th place teams in the group can get a last chance in the 4th preliminary round of the ‘final game’, but in order to easily win a ticket to North Korea, Central America and the United States, they must be ranked among the top two teams in the 3rd preliminary group.
If Korea defeats the difficult Iraq team, their hopes of advancing to the finals will increase as they remain firmly at the top of the group.
Coach Hong Myung-bo said, “Every aspect of the 2-0 win against Jordan was better than the previous two games in the third preliminary round,” and expressed his determination to win, saying, “I will forget about the victory against Jordan and prepare well for the Iraq game.”
(Seoul = News 1)
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