Guadalupe: South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo shouldered the responsibility for his team's 1-0 defeat to South Africa in the group stage match of the FIFA World Cup. The loss at Estadio Monterrey in northeastern Mexico saw South Korea finish third in Group A with three points, following a win and two losses. A win or a draw would have secured their place in the round of 32, but they failed to respond to Thapelo Maseko's decisive goal in the 63rd minute.
According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea must now await the conclusion of the remaining group matches to determine their standing among third-place teams. The top two teams from each of the 12 groups, along with the eight best third-place teams, will advance to the knockout round. With Groups A, B, and C having completed their matches, South Korea currently ranks fourth among the third-place teams. Four other nations have also secured three points, with one game left to play.
Hong Myung-bo acknowledged his responsibility for the outcome, stating, "On a stage as big as this, the head coach is responsible for all the results. Ultimately, I made wrong decisions that led to this outcome. There's nothing more, nothing less to it." Despite controlling their fate going into the match, South Korea played with a lack of urgency, prompting questions about potential issues such as food poisoning.
Hong dismissed such speculations, asserting that while the team performed poorly, there were no significant underlying problems. He emphasized, "Even if we had some issues, I wouldn't want to use them as excuses anyway. But this was indeed our worst match in the group stage."
When questioned on the team's performance, Hong reiterated the unpredictability of results in football. "This is a results-based business. If we know the outcome ahead of time, then we would prepare accordingly, but that's not possible," he explained.
Hong defended his strategic decision to start captain Son Heung-min on the bench. Son, who had started in his previous 12 World Cup matches since 2014, had not scored in the first two matches of the current tournament. Hong believed introducing Son in the second half would be more effective as opposing players' energy waned.
The match against South Africa was played in significantly hotter conditions compared to South Korea's previous matches in Zapopan, western Mexico. Despite this, Hong did not attribute the loss to the weather, stating that the players were well aware of the conditions and prepared for them. He noted that mistakes after conceding the goal led to a loss of confidence among players, which affected their counterattacking strategy.