: KOREA REPUBLIC 8-0 LAOS

Hwaseong: Son Heung-min scored a hat-trick as Korea Republic continued their quest for a ninth consecutive appearance at the FIFA World Cup finals with an emphatic 8-0 win over Laos in Group G of the second preliminary round of 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint qualifiers.

Crystal Palace winger Lee Chung-yong put the 2015 AFC Asian Cup runners-up 1-0 up after nine minutes before Son - who recently joined Lee in the the English Premier League when he moved to Tottenham Hotspur at the end of August - doubled the Taegeuk Warriors’ lead just three minutes later.

Laos keeper Sengdalavong Phoutpasong was beaten for the third time in the first half when Kwon Chang-hoon, who was part of the South Korean squad that won the 2015 EAFF (East Asian Football Federation) East Asian Cup, made it 3-0 on the half-hour mark with his first senior international goal.

The South Koreans’ fourth came from another player scoring his maiden international goal with Portugal-based Suk Hyun-jun finding the net in the 57th minute in only his second national team appearance since making his debut against Iran almost five years ago.

Son added to the Vitoria de Setubal striker’s first goal when he scored his second of the night in the 74th minute before Kwon bagged his brace just 60 seconds later as the Koreans took their tally to six without reply with quarter-of-an-hour left on the clock.

Kwon’s second looked to have completed the scoring but Uli Stielike’s side was able to add two more goals with Son completing his hat-trick with a minute of regulation 90 left to play before Lee Jae-sung, who plays his club football with 2015 AFC Champions League quarter-finalists Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors made it 8-0 four minutes into stoppage time.

Korea Republic will aim to maintain their winning momentum when they travel to Saida to take on Lebanon on Tuesday while Laos host Kuwait on the same day.

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.