Son and star-studded South Korea cruise past Singapore 5-0 in World Cup qualifiers in Seoul

SEOUL: They had promised to take their opponents seriously despite the gulf which separated the two and South Korea did exactly that on Thursday (Nov 16) after a 5-0 win over Singapore in the World Cup qualifiers.

In front of a sell-out crowd of 64,381 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, the home side ran out comfortable winners against Takayuki Nishigaya’s men courtesy of goals from Cho Gue-sung, Hwang Hee-chan, Son Heung-min, Hwang Ui-jo and Lee Kang-in.

While it might have been a chilly night in Seoul - temperatures were at 6 degrees Celsius after a day of incessant rain - South Korea were quick off the blocks, controlling possession early on.

The biggest cheers of the night prior to the match were reserved for Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea skipper Son. He came close early on with a vicious free-kick from just outside the box which was headed away.

Singapore are ranked 155th, a good way off South Korea's 24th and the gap showed as Jurgen Klinsmann’s team continued to dominate possession and almost took the lead if not for  Hassan Sunny.

A spectacular diving header from the Singapore goalkeeper in the first half kept an onrushing attacker from being through on goal and his side in the game.

The alarm bells continued to ring for Singaporeas Lee Jae-sung had the ball in the net minutes later but the flag had already gone up.

Vietnam, ASEAN's highest-ranked team, were on the wrong end of a 6-0 thrashing the last time South Korea faced Southeast Asian opposition. The win, which came in a friendly match in October, was head coach Jurgen Klinsmann's third on the trot.

South Korea boast a clutch of stars such as Son, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang, Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee and Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae.

But