Team Moreno Announces Starting Lineup for Uruguay Match… Son Heung-min and Oh Hyeon-gyu Up Front as Strike Duo, Hwang In-beom Left Out of Squad
Team Moreno announced its starting lineup for the Uruguay match on the 28th. It kept the Son Heung-min–Oh Hyeon-gyu strike duo and brought Lee Kang-in back into the starting lineup. Hwang In-beom was left off the matchday squad.
Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.
Summary in Three Lines
- South Korea lined up in a 4-4-2 against Uruguay, with Son Heung-min and Oh Hyeon-gyu as the front-line strike duo.
- Hwang In-beom was left out not only of the starting lineup but of the matchday squad, and central midfield was filled by Lee Jae-sung and Kim Bong-su.
- Before the match, Son Heung-min had 57 A-match goals and needed 1 goal to tie Cha Bum-kun's 58.
The lineup was not the same as in the Ecuador match four days earlier. Korea beat Ecuador 3-0 on the 24th. Lee Kang-in, who missed that game, returned to start against Uruguay. Hwang In-beom, by contrast, had his name dropped from the matchday squad altogether. The attacking combination did not change. The Son Heung-min–Oh Hyeon-gyu strike duo was kept.
11 starters against Uruguay: 4-4-2 strike duo, Hwang In-beom left out of squad
Yonhap News reported that the official kickoff is at 8 p.m. on the 28th at Seoul World Cup Stadium. The 11 starters are Kim Seung-gyu, Lee Tae-seok, Lee Han-beom, Kim Min-jae, Seol Young-woo, Hwang Hee-chan, Kim Bong-su, Lee Jae-sung, Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min and Oh Hyeon-gyu. The formation is 4-4-2. Son Heung-min and Oh Hyeon-gyu are paired up front, and Lee Jae-sung and Kim Bong-su play as central midfielders.
The biggest point of debate is central midfield. According to Interfootball and Footballist, Hwang In-beom was not only left out of the starting lineup but dropped from the matchday squad. Baek Seung-ho and Song Bum-keun also missed the squad. According to Yonhap News, the two central spots went to the Lee Jae-sung–Kim Bong-su pairing.
On the flanks, Lee Kang-in's return stands out. Yonhap News reported that Lee Kang-in, who missed the previous match, returned to the starting lineup, and in the announced lineup he was placed on the right. Kim Min-jae was named in defense. In effect, the strike duo was kept and Lee Kang-in was brought back into the starting lineup. Because a 4-4-2 has only two central midfielders, Lee Jae-sung and Kim Bong-su carry the midfield on their own with no substitute options, with both Hwang In-beom and Baek Seung-ho out.
Son Heung-min at 57 A-match goals, 1 away from tying Cha Bum-kun's 58
Ilgan Sports reports that Son Heung-min's cumulative A-match goals before the match were 57 (as of 19:00 on 2026.09.28). Cha Bum-kun's record, as tallied by the Korea Football Association, is 58 goals. Scoring 1 goal would tie it, and he would need to score 2 goals to become the sole all-time leading scorer. Son also holds the appearance record with 148 matches through the Ecuador game. Dividing 57 goals by 148 matches gives about 0.39 goals per match.
Korea Football Association All-Time A-Match Goal Rankings (as of 2026.07.01)
| Rank | Player | Goals | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cha Bum-kun | 58 | Includes 2 goals from 1976 Olympic qualifiers |
| 2 | Son Heung-min | 56 | Pre-match reports on September 28 say 57 goals |
| 3 | Hwang Sun-hong | 50 | Based on the official table |
| 4 | Park I-cheon | 36 | Includes 1 goal from 1971 Olympic qualifiers |
| 5 | Lee Dong-gook | 33 | Joint 5th |
| 5 | Kim Jae-han | 33 | Joint 5th |
Citing this table as today's record would be wrong. The Korea Football Association's official record of 56 goals for Son Heung-min is a tally as of July 1, so it differs by 1 goal from the pre-match reports on September 28. Outlets also differed in their wording. OSEN wrote that a goal would 'surpass' Cha Bum-kun, but applying the 57 and 58 goals cited in the same article, 1 goal is a tie.
Son Heung-min himself was calm. In its article on the 28th, OSEN reported that when asked about Cha Bum-kun's record, Son replied, "I think the reporters care about it more than I do." Even going by the July table, he is 6 goals behind third-placed Hwang Sun-hong (50 goals).
All figures in this article are as of before the match. As of 8 p.m. on the 28th, no material confirming the actual kickoff and the progress of the match was found, so the result and whether any goals were scored are not included, and Son Heung-min's 57 goals should be checked again after the match. The starting lineup was confirmed by multiple on-site reports, but the Korea Football Association's original same-day post was not confirmed.
Related Official Sites
- Korea Football Association Official Website — Check national team schedules and official announcements
- Korea Football Association All-Time Individual Records — Official tally of A-match goal and appearance rankings
Featured image · Archival photo · Not an on-site photo of the current match in the article · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Ujishadow), CC BY-SA 4.0
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