JTBC commentator Park Ji-sung sharply criticized the Korean national team's performance against South Africa, saying it "looked like watching the 2014 failure all over again." After the match, he said the team needed to ask itself "whether this was really a game meant to be won," directly challenging the squad's preparation and overall match management.
In the World Cup match, Korea lost 1-0 to South Africa in their final Group A game of the 2026 North and Central American World Cup, held in Monterrey, Mexico, on Wednesday. With a record of one win and two losses, Korea fell to third place in the group and was left to watch the results of other groups. While the possibility of reaching the round of 32 remains, the team could hardly escape criticism for repeatedly showing a lifeless flow without demonstrating any attacking solution across all three matches.
Park's criticism began from the early stages of the match. "When Lee Kang-in receives the ball, the players around him need to help more. There is too much standing around and watching," he said. "There is no team movement showing how to create space and who should move. That is the biggest reason the attack is not smooth." Late in the first half, he added, "There is no coordination. When someone has the ball, another player needs to move, and that movement should create more space, but we hardly see such scenes."
After conceding the opening goal to South Africa, he strongly criticized the team's decision not to add attacking numbers. In the 28th minute of the second half, Park expressed his frustration: "We need to go more aggressively, but they keep the same number of defenders." He continued, "We need a goal now, but there are too many players staying at the back. At this level, there is no visible will to score a goal. Whether down 1-0 or 2-0, the situation is the same now, but the defense does not change."
In particular, he pointed to the lack of numbers inside the box as the biggest problem. "If a team is losing, at least four players should be inside the box," he said. "Even if the tactics are not perfect, filling the numbers makes the opponent feel threatened. But we have no such change at all." He added, "South Africa pushes five or six players forward, but we do not take any risks. You need to go forward to create chances, but the same picture keeps repeating."
After the match, Park raised the intensity of his criticism even further. "We need to reflect on whether this was overall a game we tried to win," he said. "There was no visible plan for how to attack. This problem has been the same throughout this World Cup." He added, "It seems there were clearly some areas that were neglected during the preparation process."
Park also said the current national team reminded him of the failure at the 2014 Brazil World Cup. At the time, the team led by manager Hong Myung-bo was eliminated in the group stage with one draw and two losses. "We had plenty of time to reflect on what went wrong at the 2014 World Cup," he said. "But this time again, the preparation process and the results look like a repeat of that time." He continued, "Even if the possibility of reaching the round of 32 still remains, I am not confident that we can show a good performance on that stage with the current level of play."
Other commentators offered similar assessments. Lee Young-pyo, commentating for KBS, said, "The players' movements and body work looked heavy overall." He added, "It looked like a match where they struggled with conditioning. Since Korea was superior in objective strength, the result is all the more bewildering."
Manager Hong Myung-bo took responsibility for the defeat himself. After the match, he said, "After conceding first, the players showed somewhat impatient play in managing the game." He added, "I think the players gave their best until the end. The responsibility for today's result lies with me, the manager."
