SEOUL — Five days after facing each other in the Premier League, Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan teamed up and scored a goal each to help South Korea beat Singapore 5-0 in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.
The continent’s top teams joined the Asian qualifying competition in the second round on Thursday. Australia and Japan also started with comfortable wins.
On Saturday, Hwang’s Wolverhampton beat Son’s Tottenham 2-1. Against Singapore, Hwang scored the second goal and Son got the third. Cho Gue-song, Hwang Ui-jo and Lee Kang-in also scored in Seoul as South Korea tries to reach its 11th straight World Cup.
Hwang, who has scored six Premier League goals for Wolves this season, headed in a cross from Cho in the 49th minute. Son, who has scored eight league goals this season, curled in a shot from the edge of the area soon after.
“I’ve practiced quite a bit from that particular spot. I am always confident when I take shots from there,” Son said. “Maybe it’s become a habit. And seeing the flight and speed of the shot, I thought it was going to go in.”
Son appeared to pick up an ankle injury late in the game but he stayed on the field to complete the 90 minutes.
“I am not the only one hurting out there. Everyone plays with some bumps and bruises,” Son said. “Playing for the national team is a tremendous honor … I can’t just give up just because I am hurt.”
The top two teams from each of the nine groups of four in the second round will progress to the third stage.
Australia, which is chasing a seventh World Cup appearance, routed Bangladesh 7-0 in Melbourne.
Jamie Maclaren scored a second-half hat trick, while Mitchell Duke netted two and Harry Souttar and Brandon Borrello added the others.
In Osaka, Ayase Ueda scored three goals in Japan’s 5-0 victory over Myanmar. Daichi Kamada and Ritsu Doan also scored for Japan, which has appeared at the last seven World Cups.
In other matches, China beat Thailand 2-1 as it seeks to return to the World Cup for the first time since making its debut at the tournament in 2002, Iran defeated Hong Kong 4-0, and Qatar routed Afghanistan 8-1 with Almoez Ali scoring four.
Palestine’s match against host Lebanon was moved to the United Arab Emirates because of the security situation in the region. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.
Also, Saudi Arabia beat Pakistan 4-0, the United Arab Emirates defeated Nepal 4-0 and India beat Kuwait 1-0.
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