Hong Myung-bo's Korea won its final warm-up match ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.
The South Korean national football team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, defeated El Salvador 1-0 thanks to a free-kick winner from Lee Dong-gyeong (Ulsan) in the 57th minute, in a friendly held at Brigham Young University's South Field in Provo, near Salt Lake City in the U.S. state of Utah, on the 4th (Korea time).
Having won 5-0 against Trinidad and Tobago at the same venue four days earlier, Korea wrapped up its pre-camp in Salt Lake City with two consecutive clean-sheet victories, heading into the World Cup finals in good spirits. The national team, which topped Group B with a 6-win, 4-draw unbeaten record in the Asian final qualifying round last June to achieve the feat of reaching the World Cup finals for an 11th consecutive time, posted 6 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses across 10 friendlies played since the second half of last year.
El Salvador, ranked 100th in the FIFA rankings, is 75 places below Korea (25th).
Cho Gue-sung (Midtjylland), who came on as a substitute and scored a brace against Trinidad and Tobago four days earlier, started this time as the lone striker. With Son Heung-min (LAFC) and Oh Hyeon-gyu (Besiktas) on the bench, the left and right wings were handled by Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Lee Dong-gyeong, respectively.
Korea constantly threatened the opponent's goal, beginning with Hwang In-beom's direct free-kick shot in the seventh minute. In the 10th minute, on a counterattack, Lee Tae-seok's ground cross to Cho Gue-sung was blocked by a defender, much to Korea's regret.
After finishing the first half 0-0, Korea saw Lee Dong-gyeong's right-footed shot, following a cutback from Seol Young-woo who had broken through on the right, denied by the goalkeeper in the 52nd minute. The opening goal it had been waiting for came in the 57th minute. The man of the moment was Lee Dong-gyeong. Having drawn a foul from the right side of the penalty arc, Lee stepped up as the kicker himself and fired a left-footed shot toward the near post to shake the net. It was Lee Dong-gyeong's fourth A-match goal.
In the 63rd minute, Hong used all eight substitution cards at once, bringing on Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Oh Hyeon-gyu and Son Heung-min, among others. Son took a shot on a decisive chance in the 68th minute, but the ball flew well over the crossbar.
Hong Myung-bo's side set up a pre-camp in Salt Lake City, located at an altitude of 1,460 meters, on the 18th of last month to improve adaptation to the high altitude of Guadalajara and carry out its final preparations. Having completed its entire pre-camp training schedule, the national team will rest the following day before flying by charter plane on the 6th to Guadalajara, Mexico, the venue for its first and second group-stage matches and the site of its base camp.
