There was a certain silence in the Guadalajara press room on Thursday that no one can quite put their finger on after a loss. A day after his team’s 1-0 loss to South Africa, South Korea World Cup coach Hong Myung-bo sat in front of reporters and acknowledged that he was still unable to pinpoint the precise cause of the defeat. For a man with his background, that statement alone conveyed more information than the score.
With one victory and two defeats, two goals scored, and three goals given up, the Taegeuk Warriors placed third in Group A. They are currently ranked sixth out of twelve third-place teams, and they won’t know if they can still make it to the Round of 32 until other groups have finished. For a nation that arrived in Mexico with what many in the Korean press described as the best World Cup team in its history, it’s an uncomfortable place.
People keep coming back to the decisions made during the South Africa match. Son Heung-min, the captain, was benched at kickoff. While Korea was still chasing a goal, another defender took the place of center-back Kim Min-jae. starting with Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Korean-German midfielder Jens Castrop on the bench. In isolation, none of these calls appear to be damning. They appear to be a coach doubting the very things that brought him here, stacked together on a night when Korea needed to win.
At the press conference, Hong presented an environmental theory, citing the transition from Guadalajara’s milder climate to Monterrey’s more intense heat and humidity. He cited data showing more high-intensity sprints but less ground covered against South Africa than against Mexico. He claimed that the sluggishness was difficult to explain because there was no discernible decline in conditioning. He might be correct. It’s also possible that the players just didn’t trust the plan that was presented to them.
It’s difficult to keep Brazil 2014 out of your mind as you watch this develop. At that time, Hong was also in charge of the national team, which left the group stage with two losses and a draw before resigning. Nearly the same math ten years later. The question that Korean football is now forced to ask aloud is whether that is a pattern or bad luck.
Some members of the football community were never happy about the appointment itself. Hong took Jürgen Klinsmann’s place when he returned to the position in July 2024. He was given a contract through February 2027 that was reportedly worth about 2 billion won a year. Park Joo-ho, a member of the KFA’s National Teams Committee, declared almost immediately that appropriate screening had been circumvented. Concern was echoed by Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo, and Lee Dong-gook—names that are significant in Korea. At the time, Hong gave a measured response, stating that he respected different points of view and that the discussion was constructive. The discussion is still ongoing.
A petition demanding Hong’s immediate termination and a rule that would nullify coaching appointments made outside of formal channels surfaced on the National Assembly’s public petition website on Thursday. Jeon, the petitioner, described the South Africa performance as one of the worst Korean team performances in World Cup history. Though sharp, the language is not fringe. It aligns with what seasoned players have been saying for more than a year.
At times like this, the football itself seems to take a backseat. The outcome reignites a long-standing debate about how the KFA selects its coaches, who has a voice in that room, and what constitutes accountability when decisions go wrong in front of a worldwide audience. The petition calls for a ban on informal appointments and increased oversight through the National Assembly’s budgetary authority. It remains to be seen if any of that becomes policy.
Hong and his players are currently waiting in Guadalajara while other teams complete their games in the hopes that Korea will win the math. Even if it does, the discourse surrounding him has already changed. A berth in the Round of 32 could postpone the reckoning. It won’t come to an end. Korean football has been here before, and 2014 taught us that questions are rarely left unanswered.
