The group draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America has presented the Korean national team with a formidable challenge.
Facing Mexico, South Africa, and the winner of the European playoffs (Denmark, Czech Republic, Ireland, or North Macedonia) is difficult enough, but the real variable in this group is the environment.
The fact that all matches will be played in Mexico becomes an opponent in itself. High altitude, temperature fluctuations, and humidity exert invisible pressure on players’ stamina, tactics, and psychology. This mirrors the economic landscape, where uncertainty dominates the market.
Mexico’s vast high-altitude regions, drastic temperature shifts, intense humidity, and overwhelming home support create a competitive arena that cannot be explained by technique or tactics alone.
Entrepreneurial mindset is the driving force that helps organizations break through such uncertainty. Numerous studies show that growth is shaped not only by technology or capital, but by behavioral factors such as opportunity recognition, risk-taking, self-efficacy, and innovativeness.
When head coach Hong Myung-bo noted after the draw that the first two matches would be played at altitude and the last in over 35°C heat, he identified the essence of the challenge—but recognition alone is not enough.
What Korea needs is entrepreneurial leadership capable of turning environment into opportunity.
While many coaches focus primarily on the strength of their opponents, Hong pointed first to environmental conditions.
This is an appropriate starting point for understanding uncertainty.
Yet entrepreneurial thinking does not end with awareness; execution determines outcomes. The same applies to football. Beyond simple environmental analysis, the ability to structure uncertainty into a strategic asset is essential. Mexico’s 1,600-meter elevation significantly increases physical strain, and the heat and humidity of the third match affect passing speed, pressing intensity, and recovery.
Add to this the psychological advantage of Mexico’s home crowd. However, these conditions are not unique to Korea—they are variables every team must face.
Under identical conditions, performance differences arise not from resources but from behavior, in other words, entrepreneurial mindset. Some teams perceive the environment as risk; others convert it into a preparable opportunity.
The distinction stems from the leader’s perspective.
Entrepreneurship is not the ability to avoid risk but to manage it and channel it into execution. Hong’s comment that the team “has no choice but to prepare” is directionally correct, but only gains weight when translated into concrete action.
Climate adaptation training, load management, rotation plans, and match-specific tactical adjustments are not optional—they are essential strategies that turn uncertainty into a controllable structure. Innovativeness and execution have long been identified as core predictors of entrepreneurial success.
The World Cup is no different. What matters more than skill is the leader’s ability to execute with an entrepreneurial mindset. The environment is the same for all teams, but how each team interprets and prepares for it is what separates winners from the rest.
The World Cup is won not by the team with the most talent, but by the team that identifies opportunities first and prepares earliest.
That is the leadership Korea needs now. Hong Myung-bo stands at that threshold. Altitude, humidity, and home advantage are steep obstacles—but for a leader equipped with entrepreneurship, these obstacles can become stepping stones.
Those who see opportunity win. Those who move first prevail.
The author is a columnist of Aju Media Corporation.
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