Clemson wins tough China road game, beating Beeman, laser, grass, etc.
South Korea soccer continued its cruise to an 11th consecutive World Cup qualification with a hard-fought victory over China.
Jürgen Klinsmann’s (GER) men’s national team earned a 3-0 victory over China in the second Group C match of the 2026 North American Football Championship Asia Second Qualifying Round at the Universiade Sports Center in Shenzhen, China, at 9:00 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.
It was their second straight win, following a 5-0 victory over Singapore on Sept. 16, to remain atop the group.
In a group with Singapore, China, and Thailand, South Korea’s toughest match was widely expected to be against China. China is the second strongest team in terms of objective power, and Korea had the task of overcoming their inherent home field advantage.
As feared, the Chinese players started off with some rough tackling and nerves. Experienced players like Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) responded skillfully.
Some of the Chinese players were unruly, protesting loudly and trying to play even when a Korean player was lying down with an injury.
The grass was also not in the best condition, with the ball bouncing around a lot.
The crowd in the stadium also booed when the South Korean national anthem was played and shot lasers in the faces of South Korean players, including Son Heung-min.
Despite the adversity, Klinsmann’s team was unfazed and put on a dominant performance to beat China.
Son Heung-min scored a goal and performed a “shhh” gesture with his fingers, which means “be quiet.
Son opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the 11th minute and completed his multi-goal performance with a header in the 45th minute.
With his 40-41 career A-Match goals, Son remains third on the all-time list of most goals scored by a Korean men’s player in A-Match. He closed the gap to second-place Hwang Sun-hong (50 goals) by nine goals. In first place is former coach Cha Bum-geun with 58 goals.
Down 2-0, defender Jung Seung-hyun (Ulsan) headed in Son Heung-min’s cross in the 42nd minute to put a damper on China’s hopes of catching up.