The South Korean national football team suffered a shocking defeat to South Africa, failing to secure a spot in the knockout stage. Head coach Hong Myung-bo took full responsibility for the loss.
On June 25, at 10 a.m. KST, South Korea lost 1-0 to South Africa in their final group stage match of Group A at the Estadio Monterrey in Mexico.
With this defeat, South Korea finished the group stage with a record of one win and two losses, earning three points. Meanwhile, Mexico secured the top spot in the group with a decisive 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic, finishing with nine points. South Africa moved into second place with four points after their win over South Korea.
As a result, South Korea dropped to third place in the group and failed to advance to the knockout stage. However, they avoided direct elimination from the tournament thanks to Mexico's victory over the Czech Republic.
In a post-match press conference, Hong stated, "In such a major tournament, the results are the responsibility of the coach. Ultimately, everything was my judgment and decision."
Notably, Hong excluded team captain Son Heung-min from the starting lineup for this match. This marked the first time Son, who has participated in World Cup matches since the 2014 Brazil tournament, was not in the starting eleven.
Hong explained his decision, saying, "I thought it would be better to bring Son in after the first half when there would be more space available, rather than starting him against a strong opponent."
Throughout the match, South Korea displayed a lackluster performance, failing to register a single shot on target in the first half and only managing three in the second half. In contrast, South Africa had 13 shots on goal during the match.
Hong acknowledged the team's poor performance, stating, "While there could be various reasons for the outcome, I believe the results in a major tournament are ultimately the coach's responsibility. I made the wrong judgments and decisions, leading to this unfavorable result. There is nothing more to say beyond that."
Regarding the players' sluggishness, he noted, "The performance was not good, but there were no uncontrollable factors like mass food poisoning affecting the team. I do not want to attribute the reasons to such issues. It is true that we played our worst match out of the three in the group stage."
He added, "We made mistakes in the midfield compared to our preparations, which led to a loss of confidence. After conceding a goal, we became anxious, which ultimately resulted in our defeat."
South Korea's chances of advancing to the knockout stage remain uncertain. This tournament features 48 teams, with the top two teams from each group, along with the eight best third-place teams, advancing to the round of 32. South Korea will need to monitor the results of other groups to see if they can qualify.
The outlook is not promising. At the time of the South Korea-South Africa match, six teams in other groups had already secured at least three points. Notably, Paraguay (Group D), Sweden (Group F), Algeria (Group J), and Croatia (Group L) all have three points but have played one fewer match.
If two or more teams finish with the same points in the third-place standings, rankings will be determined by goal difference, total goals scored, fair play points, and FIFA rankings. Currently, South Korea has a goal difference of -1 and has scored two goals.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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