"Miracle in 16 years is just around the corner." Unbeaten in the preliminary round of the Korean Football World Cup... The last match against Kuwait, "Can I really do it this time?" The whole nation's attention is focused

"Miracle in 16 years is just around the corner." Unbeaten in the preliminary round of the Korean Football World Cup... The last match against Kuwait, "Can I really do it this time?" The whole nation's attention is focused

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With South Korean soccer confirming its 11th consecutive World Cup run, it is at the last gateway to achieve the record of "unbeaten pre-qualifying matches" that can be achieved in 16 years.
Coach Hong Myung-bo's Taeguk Warriors are set to face Kuwait's national team at 8 p.m. on the 10th at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the final 10th round of Group B of the third qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA North-China World Cup in Asia.

The Taeguk Warriors won 2-0 in an away match in Iraq on the 6th, solidifying their group's lead with 19 points (5 wins, 4 draws). Along with Jordan, the second-place team with 16 points (4 wins, 4 draws, 1 loss), they secured a direct berth to the 2026 North-China tournament.

As a result, he made it to the World Cup for the 12th time in a row and the 11th time in a row when calculating from the 1954 Swiss Games.

Kuwait, on the other side, went on an away trip to Korea with five points (5 draws and 4 losses), with the last place in Group B confirmed.

It is only Korea's final ranking in the group that there is a possibility of change in this final match.

Both Korea and Jordan have scored 16 goals and allowed seven, showing the same goal difference. If Korea loses to Kuwait and Jordan beats Iraq at home at the same time, Korea ends the preliminary round by ranking second in the group.

The Taeguk Warriors want to solidify their group's No. 1 status through a clean victory in their last match against Kuwait, while also creating a festival stage where they share the joy of advancing to the finals with their home fans, who were not fully enjoyed in the away match in Iraq.

In particular, he is also aiming to achieve "completely unbeaten World Cup qualifiers" for the first time in 16 years.

The Korean team jumped from the second preliminary round of the North-China World Cup and secured tickets for the third preliminary round with five wins and one draw. It added five wins and four draws in the third preliminary round, continuing its unbeaten streak (10 wins and five draws) in 15 consecutive matches.
During the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, Korea played only two away games against Japan in the preliminary round, making the first World Cup stage ever with one win and one draw.

However, in the current system, where 5-6 countries play the final qualifiers in the form of a league, they achieved "unbeaten World Cup qualifiers" only twice, Italy in 1990 and South Africa in 2010.

In the preliminary round of the 1990 Italian competition under coach Lee Hoi-taek, he made it to the finals with an unbeaten record (9 wins and 2 draws) in a total of 11 matches.

After winning six consecutive home and away first qualifiers against Singapore, Malaysia and Nepal at the time, he added three wins and two draws in the final qualifying round.

However, in the final stage, all three games were defeated, leaving the worst result ever.

Twenty years later, he completed his unbeaten advance to the finals again in the preliminary round of the 2010 South African tournament led by coach Huh Jung-moo. 안전놀이터

From the third qualifying round (3 wins and 3 draws), he participated in the final qualifying round (4 wins and 4 draws), and succeeded in going straight to the South African stage without losing a single game (7 wins and 7 draws).
In the finals, he also achieved the first advance to the round of 16 at the away World Cup.

In the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifying tournament, which was just before the tournament, he confirmed his early advance to the finals by continuing his seven wins, two draws and no loss in the final qualifying round following five wins and one draw in the second qualifying round under coach Paulo Bento.

However, in the final qualifying round, he lost 0-1 in the final away match of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ending his qualifying schedule in second place in the group behind Iran.