"I judged and decided wrongly, so the result turned out poorly. There is nothing more and nothing less to it."
After South Korea suffered a shocking 0-1 loss to South Africa and finished the group stage third in Group A at the 2026 North American World Cup, South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo said all responsibility lay with him.
Speaking at a press conference following the match against South Africa held at Monterrey Stadium in Guadalupe, Mexico, on June 25 (Korea time), Hong said, "On a big stage like this, the coach bears all responsibility for the result." He added, "In the end, everything was my judgment and my decision."
The biggest focus of the day was the exclusion of "captain" Son Heung-min (LAFC) from the starting lineup. Son had always started in the national team's World Cup matches since the 2014 Brazil tournament. It was the first time in his career he began a match on the bench.
Regarding this, Hong explained, "I judged it would be better to bring Son on after 45 minutes when some space opened up, rather than in the first half when the opponent had energy."
Hong's side, which left out Son and fielded Oh Hyun-gyu (Beşiktaş) as a lone striker with Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) on the left and right of the second line, began to be pushed back by South Africa from the middle of the first half. Eventually, in the 18th minute of the second half, they conceded the decisive goal to Tapelo Maseko.
However, it was hard to see the choice of the attacking lineup as having a decisive impact on the outcome, as all the players, without exception, appeared very heavy in their movements.
Asked whether there had been any uncontrollable factors such as a collective case of food poisoning, Hong flatly replied, "There was nothing of the sort at all. I don't want to attribute the reason to anything like that."
On the tactical cause of the defeat, he said, "There were mistakes in midfield. As a result, the players showed a loss of confidence." He explained, "In the end, we knew how we had to finish this match, but as in the previous match against Mexico, if we had focused more on side play, we could have better controlled the opponent's most threatening counterattacks. I think we weren't good in that respect."
With one win and two losses for three points, South Korea dropped to third in the group and failed to advance to the round-of-32 tournament on its own. The team is now in a position where it must watch the results of other groups to learn whether it will reach the round of 32.
