Hong Myung-bo fails to turn stars into a team as South Korea regress at World Cup

Criticism is mounting over South Korea's listless performances at the World Cup, with questions about head coach Hong Myung-bo's accountability growing louder.

Fans at home have been particularly vocal about a squad that boasts arguably the most talented generation in Korean football history — captain Son Heung-min, a former Premier League top scorer; Lee Kang-in, Paris Saint-Germain's prized playmaker; and Kim Min-jae, Bayern Munich's defensive anchor — yet has produced football that falls well short of expectations.

Hong's side has managed just one win and two losses in the group stage of the 2026 North America World Cup, leaving them with a disappointing record. Having failed to secure automatic qualification for the round of 32, South Korea must now anxiously wait on results from other groups to see whether they can claim one of the eight spots reserved for the best third-placed teams.

South Korea's performance against South Africa was dismal. After the 10th minute, the team created almost no threatening chances and were helpless against South Africa's quick counterattacks. The players looked nothing like they had in the first two matches — their movement was heavy and their combinations fell apart.

The day after the 0-1 defeat to South Africa, the squad traveled back to Guadalajara from Monterrey on Friday. Hong held a press conference before a recovery session to review the group stage.

At the briefing, Hong pointed to the sweltering heat in Monterrey as an environmental factor behind the poor showing. "When I looked for other reasons, not many came up," he said. "I think the environmental conditions may have made things difficult for us."

His point was that the players, who had played their first two matches in the relatively mild climate of Guadalajara, appeared to have struggled to adapt after moving to the far hotter city of Monterrey.

"Looking at the data, the total distance covered was slightly less than against Mexico, but high-intensity running was a little higher," Hong said. "Physically, there wasn't a big difference from the Mexico match, but it's not easy to explain why the players looked so slow on the pitch."

He also cited psychological factors. "I think the players were under enormous pressure to perform well and desperately wanted to win and settle things," he said. "With that mental and psychological state, combined with the sudden heat, things just didn't come together."

Yet South Korea were not the only side dealing with those conditions. South Africa, facing immediate elimination if they failed to win, had far more riding on the result and had done less preparation for the heat — and had even expressed confidence before the match that the weather would be no problem at all.

A group stage that began with a win, stumbled against a strong Mexico side and then collapsed against the weakest team in the group offers little hope even if South Korea scrape through to the round of 32. Particularly troubling is that Hong could not clearly identify why his team lost a match in which they held the objective advantage in quality — raising serious doubts about whether they can properly prepare for any potential knockout fixture.

US sports outlet The Athletic sharply criticized South Korea's performance Friday in a piece headlined "With or without Son Heung-min, South Korea have lost their identity."

The outlet first took aim at the most controversial selection decision: Hong's choice to bench captain Son Heung-min and veteran Lee Jae-sung against South Africa, instead deploying Hwang Hee-chan, Oh Hyeon-gyu and Lee Kang-in in the attacking line. Hong's reasoning was that bringing Son on in the second half, when the opposition's fitness would have dropped, would be more effective.

The Athletic said the gamble "didn't work," adding that Son, introduced at the start of the second half, failed to change the flow of the game. The outlet noted that Son's ball touches numbered just 29 — the second fewest of any player in the World Cup finals — and were concentrated in central areas.

Hong's unwavering attachment to a three-back defensive system has also drawn sustained criticism. Even while trailing by a single goal, he stuck rigidly to the defense-oriented setup and produced no tactical variation against a South Africa side that packed their defense and sat deep.

At the start of the second half, Hong used all his substitutions at once, bringing on three players including Son and introducing tall strikers such as Cho Gue-sung — but the changes produced almost no clear-cut chances.

Commentator Song Yeong-ju said Hong had no excuse. "It's the manager's fault," Song said. "He changed a starting lineup that had been working, and the changes caused the problems." Song also criticized Hong for keeping the 3-4-3 formation intact and simply swapping players rather than making genuine tactical adjustments to suit the situation.

"When Kim Min-jae went off injured, he should have brought on a forward," Song said. "Instead of Park Jin-seop, who plays the same position, he should have put on Cho Gue-sung to add an extra attacker. And the substitution slot used for Cho should have been Yang Hyeon-jun in place of Seol Young-woo on the right."

Song added: "The game plan was wrong, the starting lineup was wrong, and the substitutions were wrong. Finishing third in the group is the result of an irresponsible lineup and its consequences."

The most fundamental problem, however, is that it is impossible to tell what kind of football South Korea are trying to play. The Athletic said the reality "is different" from what Hong has described, noting that "South Korea have not advanced past the round of 16 at a World Cup since their semifinal run in 2002, and they lost to Sweden, Mexico and Ghana despite having superior squads."

"In the match against South Africa, neither in attack nor in defense was it clear what kind of football the manager wanted to play," the outlet said. "That is the thing Korean fans should be most worried about."

British media were equally scathing. The BBC, in its live text commentary, wrote that "it feels a little strange watching Korea take to the field without Son Heung-min," and assessed that "Korea had possession but, apart from the opening few minutes, created very little."

Former national team player and football influencer Lee Chun-soo criticized the players for a lack of fighting spirit. "It was a performance that even fans and supporters of individual players would find hard to accept," he said. "If you can't run, how can you play football? It wasn't a real match."

"If a player ran past me, I would have grabbed their shirt or taken their legs out to stop them," Lee said. "I was deeply disappointed watching players get beaten so easily. This isn't a problem with one or two individuals."

Former national team player and commentator Lee Geun-ho offered a similar assessment. "It's not just about making it to the round of 32 — it's about how you get there," he said. "Friday's match gave us nothing to be hopeful about. We showed nothing and there were no moments worth remembering."

"Even if it didn't work out in the end, they should have at least tried to go forward — but they didn't even attempt it," Lee added. "It felt like they kept looking for the same few key players, like Lee Kang-in, over and over."