Members of the South Korean men’s national football team take part in a training session ahead of a World Cup qualifying match against Palestine at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 2, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Hong Myung-bo, head coach of the South Korean men’s national football team, will look to start his second tenure off on the right foot in a World Cup qualifying match against Palestine on Thursday.
Hong, named as the replacement for Jurgen Klinsmann in July, previously coached South Korea for 19 matches between June 2013 and July 2014. He resigned after failing to get the team past the group stage at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. South Korea had a draw and two losses there, and recorded five wins, four draws and 10 losses overall under Hong.
A little over a decade later, Hong, now 55, believes he is a much better coach today because he learned from mistakes he’d made during his first tenure.
Hong will have his first opportunity to prove that when South Korea and Palestine clash at 8 p.m. Thursday at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
This will be the first Group B match for both teams in the third round of the Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. South Korea are the highest-ranked team in the group at No. 23. Palestine check in at No. 96.
There are three groups of six in this round, and the top two nations from each group will grab tickets to the 2026 World Cup. Teams ranked third and fourth from each group will advance to the fourth qualification round.
South Korea will then face Oman in Muscat next Tuesday. Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait are the other teams in Group B, and South Korea are heavily favored to secure one of two automatic berths out of this group.
There likely won’t be any honeymoon period between Hong and the disgruntled national football team fan base. Hong has been a highly unpopular choice from the moment the Korea Football Association (KFA) announced his appointment in early July. The KFA had spent several weeks interviewing foreign-born candidates to fill the coaching vacancy before doing an unexpected about-face to hire the homegrown tactician in Hong.
Members of the South Korean men’s national football team prepare for the start of a training session ahead of a World Cup qualifying match against Palestine at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 2, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Hong had publicly spurned the KFA’s offers on multiple occasions earlier in the year. He had even promised fans of Ulsan HD FC, the K League 1 club he’d been coaching since the start of the 2022 season, that he would never leave them for the national team gig.
The KFA came under fire for ignoring its own vetting process to hire Hong, and the coach himself was criticized for reneging on his earlier pledge and for offering only vague explanations for his decision to leave.
If South Korea beat Palestine and other underdogs in the third round in convincing fashion, it could go a long way toward silencing Hong’s detractors.
Hong’s 26-man squad has an intriguing mix of veterans and up-and-comers. The group of usual suspects includes Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur, Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain and Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich.
Son, longtime national team captain, is third on the South Korean goal scoring list with 48. He is 10 behind the leader in that category, Cha Bum-kun.
With his next appearance, Son will break a tie with former left back Lee Young-pyo and move into fourth place with 128 caps. Cha and Hong are currently tied for first with 136 appearances each, and Son is on track to surpass them in the near future.
Gangwon FC attacker Yang Min-hyeok, an 18-year-old sensation who signed for Tottenham Hotspur in July, headlines a quartet of first-time selections.
If Yang scores in either of the next two matches, he will become the second-youngest player ever to find the back of the net for South Korea.
He is one of seven players on this squad born in the 2000s.
Of the four first-timers, Gangwon defender Hwang Moon-gi is the oldest at 27. Hong said last week he felt Hwang had been Gangwon’s most consistent player this season and a big reason for the team’s surprise rise to the top of the K League 1 tables.
FC Machida Zelvia forward Oh Se-hun was called up for the second round of the World Cup qualification in June but did not see any action. The 25-year-old will look to collect his first cap.
(Yonhap)
