Korea's internal turmoil, Thailand has more chances in World Cup qualifiers

The Korean national team and the Thai national team will face each other in two matches on March 21 and March 26, within the framework of Group C of the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. In the first match, the two teams are scheduled to meet at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul (Korea). After that, the two teams will play the second leg at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok (Thailand).

Before these matches took place, the Korean team was in a personnel crisis. The team had just fired coach Jurgen Klinsmann (German), and temporarily did not have a head coach.

In addition, the two most expensive and famous stars of Korean football, Son Heung-min (playing for Tottenham in England) and Lee Kang-in (playing for PSG in France), are facing disciplinary action from the Korean Football Association (KFA) for fighting before the 2023 Asian Cup semi-final between Korea and Jordan.

The South Korean team has lost coach Jurgen Klinsmann and is at risk of losing Son Heung-min in March.

Thai media immediately considered this good news for the Golden Temple team. Siam Sport commented: "Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in may not be able to play in the matches between Korea and Thailand, and coach Masatada Ishii (Japanese) of the Thai team can smile.

Korean media said that these players will not be called up to the national team to participate in the World Cup qualifiers due to disciplinary violations. They fought with each other during the 2023 Asian Cup," Siam Sport added.

Of course, in any case, the Korean team is still much stronger than the Thai team. But anyway, when Korea loses its key stars, the opportunity for the Golden Temple team will increase a bit.

At the recently concluded Asian Championship in Qatar, Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in each scored three goals. They were the best strikers for the Korean team at the recent Asian Cup. Therefore, if they are not called up to the national team, the Korean attack will be somewhat weakened.

In addition, as long as the Korean team is still slow in appointing a new coach, the time for this new coach to prepare for the matches against Thailand in the World Cup qualifiers will gradually run out. That will be the next good signal for the team of the Golden Temple.

Thailand team (white shirt) announced that they have more chances in the World Cup qualifiers

In Group C of the 2nd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, South Korea is leading the group with 6 points after 2 matches. Thailand has 3 points and is ranked second in the group (Thailand has the same points as the Chinese team but has a better sub-index). Thailand's goal is to win the 2nd ticket of this group to enter the 3rd qualifying round.

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