“I play in the same position in (Tsubena) Zvezda. So it wasn’t too awkward.”
Jürgen Klinsmann’s South Korea national soccer team cruised to a 5-0 victory over Singapore on Saturday at Sangam World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, in the first leg of their Group C match at the FIFA Confederations Cup North America 2026 second qualifying round in Asia.
Cho Kyu-sung opened the scoring, followed by relay goals from Hwang Hee-chan, Son Heung-min, Hwang Eui-jo, and Lee Kang-in. The defense, led by Kim Seung-kyu and supported by Kim Min-jae and Jeong Seung-hyun, was also not lacking.
No less important was the presence of Hwang In-Beom, who played in one of the most unheralded positions in modern soccer. He started at defensive midfielder, where his sharp passing, solid defense, and build-ups were key to South Korea’s big win.
Speaking to the Mixed Zone after the game, Hwang In-bum said, “First of all, I would like to thank the fans for filling the stadium. It would have been a tough game if we didn’t score easily in the first half, but our good players scored in the second half and we were able to bring home a good result.”
Klinsmann had been using Son Jun-ho, Jung Woo-young, Won Doo-jae, and Park Yong-woo in the defensive midfield, with Park stepping up to the plate after Son Jun-ho was unavailable due to problems in China.
On this day, however, Hwang In-Beom was the defensive midfielder for South Korea. He gave 120% in his position, opening the scoring with a nice mid-range shot and making accurate passes that led to quick possession transitions.
“Coach (Klinsmann) knows that I’m more of an offensive player than a defensive player. That’s why against Singapore, he asked me to make a good triangle with (Kim) Min-jae and (Jung) Seung-hyun and protect them without going out. I like to move around a lot, and Minjae and Seunghyun did a good job of controlling him from behind.”
He added, “I also play this position in Zvezda. It wasn’t too awkward,” he said, adding, “We did a lot of image training because we have to do different things than when we play other offensive plays.”
South Korea struggled against Singapore’s two-row defense until Cho Kyu-sung scored in the 44th minute. Korea created several scoring chances, led by Lee Kang-in, but couldn’t find the back of the net. There were offside calls and goal-banging, but it took time for the goal to come. 보스토토
“We didn’t score much in the first half, but we were making good shots, so we talked at halftime about not being impatient and attacking the side. All of our players are very experienced, so we were calm when the chances came. That’s why we got a good result.”
Hwang In-beom, who made his first appearance for the A-team in 2018, has already played all of the Asian qualifiers on the road to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Now it’s on to the North and Central American World Cup, which started with a match against Singapore. Now that he’s experienced, he’s relaxed.
“At the last World Cup, I was not very good in the second and final qualifiers,” Hwang said, “but I prepared for this one.
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