South Korea saw off the threat of Iran courtesy of a comfortable 2-0 victory in their penultimate World Cup qualifier at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Thursday.

Skipper Son Heung-min broke the deadlock on the stroke of half time before Kim Young-gwon doubled his side's lead just past the hour mark.

Having picked up 23 points from a possible 27 so far, Paulo Bento's men have now claimed top spot in Group A, leapfrogging the aforementioned Iran.

The Taegeuk Warriors are also on a seven-game winning streak and are unbeaten in competitive matches since a 1-0 defeat to Qatar in January 2019.

Going up against an opposing side who have lost each of the last six meetings between the teams, Tuesday's visitors will fancy themselves to come out on top and round off their qualifying journey in style.

UAE were beaten for the fourth consecutive game away from home following a 1-0 loss to Iraq at the King Fahd International Stadium on Thursday.

Hussein Ali's superb opener eight minutes into the second period was enough to condemn Rodolfo Arruabarrena's men to defeat in Riyadh.

The Eyal Zayed remain third in the group standings, one point ahead of nearest challengers Iraq heading into the final round of matches.

A victory on Tuesday would guarantee the hosts a fourth-round play-off spot against Australia in June, while anything less could spell the end of their World Cup dream.



译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

周四，在首尔世界杯体育场举行的倒数第二场世界杯预选赛中，韩国队以2比0轻松战胜了伊朗队。

上半场结束时，孙兴慜打破僵局，金泳权在比赛刚过一小时就将比分改写为2比1。

到目前为止，保罗·本托的球队已经在27分的基础上拿下了23分，超越了前面提到的伊朗队，成为a组的第一名。

太极勇士队自2019年1月1比0负于卡塔尔之后，连续7场比赛保持不败。

面对在过去六场比赛中都输掉的对手，周二的客队将会幻想自己能够取得领先，并以独特的风格结束他们的预选赛之旅。

21日，阿联酋在法赫德国王国际体育场以0比1负于伊拉克，连续四场客场比赛落败。

侯赛因·阿里在第二节开场8分钟的精彩进球，足以让鲁道夫·阿鲁阿巴雷纳的军队在利雅得败下阵来。

埃亚尔·扎耶德仍在小组积分榜上排名第三，领先最接近的挑战者伊拉克一分，进入最后一轮比赛。

周二的胜利将确保东道主在6月对阵澳大利亚的第四轮附加赛中获得席位，而如果获胜，则可能意味着他们的世界杯之梦的终结。