South Korea improved to seven points to momentarily move to the top of the group, with Iraq, sitting at four points, scheduled to host Palestine later Thursday.

Jordan had defeated South Korea 2-0 in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup in Qatar on Feb. 6, preventing the Taegeuk Warriors from winning their first Asian Cup since 1960. The loss cost then-head coach Jurgen Klinsmann his job after less than a year at the helm.

South Korea played without Son, after the Tottenham Hotspur talisman was dropped from the squad last week due to a left hamstring injury. Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae wore the armband in this match.

For Jordan, Yazan Al-Naimat, who had scored the first goal in the Asian Cup win, only played the second half, while Mousa Al-Tamari, the other scorer in that match, was held out due to an ankle injury.

Coached by Hong Myung-bo, South Korea will next face Iraq at Yongin Mireu Stadium in Yongin, some 40 kilometers south of Seoul, on Tuesday.

There are three groups of six nations in the third round, and the top two teams from each group will grab their tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

South Korea have played at every World Cup since 1986.

Without Son, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Jae-sung and Lee Kang-in got the start as attacking midfielders, lining up behind striker Joo Min-kyu.

On defense, Kim Min-jae had his third different partner in three matches with Cho Yu-min. Midfielders Hwang In-beom and Park Yong-woo were assigned defensive roles, while Jo Hyeon-woo received his third consecutive start of the third round.

South Korea survived close calls in the opening moments. Less than four minutes in, Mohannad Abu Taha tested Jo with a hard shot from close range, though the Jordanian forward was called for a foul prior to the shot.

In the seventh minute, Mohammad Abu Hasheesh hit the bottom right post with a shot set up by Ali Olwan’s cross, but the ball had already gone across the end line before Olwan made the pass.

Midway through the first half, South Korea lost their one remaining Premier Leaguer, Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, to an apparent leg injury.

Hwang first went down in the 10th minute following a hard challenge from Abdallah Nasib. Then Ehsan Haddad tackled Hwang from behind in the 21st minute, sending Hwang to the ground in obvious pain.

Hwang, unable to put any weight on his left leg, was helped off the pitch by team trainers. Eom Ji-sung took his place on the left wing.

South Korea gradually found their offensive rhythm and broke through with the opening goal in the 38th minute.

After taking a cross on the right wing, fullback Seol Young-woo faked Mohammad Abu Hasheesh out of position and sent a left-footed cross to Lee Jae-sung, who was unmarked as he soared to head the ball into the top right corner.

South Korea suffered more rotten injury luck five minutes into the second half, with Eom leaving the match with his own injury. Bae Jun-ho came on as his replacement, while Oh Hyeon-gyu came on as the new striker in place of Joo Min-kyu.

Jordan got behind the scrambling defense in the 53rd minute but Olwan fired his right-footed shot high and wide to the right.

South Korea doubled their lead in the 68th minute, thanks to some great individual effort by Oh.

After South Korea stole the ball in the middle of the field, Oh took a pass from Bae charging down the left wing. With Abdallah Nasib in front of him, Oh scored off his right foot from the left side of the box, as the Jordanian defender ended up screening his own goalkeeper, Yazeed Abulaila.

South Korea cruised to the finish line, with Jordan unable to mount much of a fight.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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