National soccer team passes the halfway point to the World Cup

[Anchor]

Now, attention is on whether our country can qualify for the North and Central America World Cup.

With yesterday's (10.15) victory over Iraq, there are cautious evaluations that we have passed the halfway point.

Reporter Kim Gi-beom analyzed the current state of the World Cup Asian qualifiers, which are at a turning point.

[Report]

The national football team, led by coach Hong Myung-bo, has decorated their recent three-match series against Middle Eastern countries with victories.

By defeating Iraq at home, which was competing for the top spot in the group, Korea is currently in first place, three points ahead of the second place.

The national team has accumulated 10 points from four matches in the third qualifying round, the final hurdle for direct qualification, marking the best start of the 21st century.

[Hong Myung-bo/National Football Team Coach: "In a way, I think this was the most important match of the year. I am happy to finish the October doubleheader with victories."]

Currently, the national team is in sole first place in Group B, with Jordan and Iraq forming the leading group.

If they finish in the top two of the group, they can directly qualify for the expanded North and Central America World Cup with 48 countries.

During the middle of next month, at the away doubleheader against lower-ranked Palestine and Kuwait, the path to World Cup qualification may become clearer.

[Lee Young-pyo/KBS Football Commentator: "If we can secure 6 points from the two matches against Kuwait and Palestine in November, I expect that we will be able to secure our World Cup ticket to some extent."]

The current state of the Asian qualifiers at the turning point can be summarized as a three-way race.

Iran, Korea, and Japan, all with high FIFA rankings, are leading their respective groups with 10 points each, while the dark horse Uzbekistan has also accumulated 10 points.

North Korea remains at the bottom of Group A without a win, and China, with a population of 1.5 billion, recorded their first victory by defeating Indonesia 2 to 1 but still sits at the bottom of Group C.

This is KBS News, Kim Gi-beom.