AFC Asian Qualifiers
The victory at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium moves the Koreans, under interim coach Hwang Sun-hong, onto 10 points from four games and means a draw in their meeting with hosts Singapore on June 6 will seal their progress from Group C.
The result leaves Thailand in third place in the standings, three points behind China PR following their 4-1 win over Singapore earlier in the day with the two nations due to meet on Matchday Five.
Korean captain Son was denied early in the game, Suphan Thongsong throwing himself into a perfectly timed tackle in a desperate attempt to block the Tottenham Hotspur forward’s strike on goal.
However, the visitors went in front with 19 minutes on the clock, Lee Kang-in’s incisive pass from deep releasing Cho Gue-sung behind the Thai defence.
The Midtyjlland striker pulled the ball back across the face of goal for Lee Jae-sung to side-foot his shot over the line, scoring as he tussled with Teerathon Bunmathan on the goal-line.
The clash proved costly for Teerathon, the former Yokohama F Marinos defender carried off after receiving several minutes of treatment, with Masatada Ishii replacing the fullback with Suphanan Bureerat.
The Thais had a sight of goal four minutes before the interval with Jo Hyeon-woo forced to bat away Chanathip Songkrasin’s shot on the run from outside the area. Jaroensak Wonggorn found Jo’s hands three minutes after the restart at the end of a Thai counter.
Lee Kang-in was instrumental again in Korea Republic’s second goal as the visitors doubled their lead nine minutes into the second half.
The Paris Saint-Germain playmaker moved into the centre before sliding his pass into the path of Son on the left and, after a burst of pace past Suphanan created the space to shoot, the forward’s low effort went in off the inner thigh of goalkeeper Patiwat Khammai.
Park Jin-seop then dropped to his knees to celebrate Korea Republic’s third eight minutes from time, the substitute volleying in Kim Min-jae’s headed knockdown after Kim Jin-su swung his cross in to the six-yard box from the left touchline.
