Basra: Following a long stretch of uninspired play on the heels of a controversial coaching hire, South Korea will compete at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after all. South Korea booked their spot in the big tournament after beating Iraq 2-0 in their second-to-last Group B match in the third round of the Asian World Cup qualifiers in Basra, southern Iraq, Thursday night.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the top two nations from each of the three groups in this phase will grab their tickets to the 2026 World Cup, to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Thursday’s result assured South Korea of one of the two spots available out of their group, regardless of how they fare against Kuwait in the final qualifying match in Seoul on Tuesday. South Korea will play in their 11th consecutive World Cup, a streak topped by only five countries-Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy, and Spain. However, the third round was challenging for South Korea, and they didn’t quite capture the fans’ imagination the way some of their predecessors did.
Toward the end of the second round, South Korea went through two temporary head coaches, first Hwang Sun-hong and then Kim Do-hoon. The Korea Football Association (KFA) failed to find a full-time replacement for Jurgen Klinsmann, whom it fired in February 2024 in light of South Korea’s semifinal loss at the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup. The KFA came close to signing the American tactician Jesse Marsch, who later became Canada’s head coach, and also interviewed some other foreign-born candidates before naming Hong Myung-bo as the new national team boss.
The appointment of Hong, who had failed to take South Korea past the group stage at the 2014 World Cup in his first tour of duty, drew immediate and unrelenting backlash from the public. Fans accused the KFA of not sticking to a proper vetting process and demanded the resignation of KFA President Chung Mong-gyu. The public outcry even prompted a government probe. Chung, Hong, and some KFA executives were called in to testify before lawmakers during parliamentary sessions.
Hong faced calls for his head even before coaching his first match in September 2024, at the start of the third round in the Asian qualifiers. Hong was booed during team introduction before South Korea hosted Palestine at Seoul World Cup Stadium, and the volume went up a few notches after South Korea settled for a goalless draw against the underdog team. South Korea won the next three matches to get on the right track. While Hong still wasn’t being cheered like his players, at least the boo birds were silenced.
A 3-1 win over Kuwait and a 1-1 draw against Palestine in November 2024 pushed South Korea closer to early World Cup qualification. They had a chance to take care of business on home soil in March this year with matches against Oman and Jordan, the two teams they had easily beaten the previous fall. However, Hong’s team only managed 1-1 draws in both contests, which set the stage for Thursday’s qualification in Iraq.
After clinching their World Cup ticket in a hostile environment, South Korea will try to end the qualifiers on a high note and celebrate in front of their own supporters when they host Kuwait in Seoul next week. It will be a chance to repair the team’s strained relationship with fans before embarking on their World Cup journey.