Hong Myung-bo, who departs after many twists and turns, will announce the new national team’s “first team” list on the 26th.
National team coach Hong Myung-bo will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. on the 26th at the Sinmun-ro Football Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, revealing the list of national team call-ups to play in the second consecutive round of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North Korea and China next month.
Hong Myung-bo’s first team will play the first match of the World Cup qualifying round against Palestine at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. on September 5, and then cross to Oman to play the second match against Oman at 11 p.m. on the 10th (Korea time) at Muscat Sultan Qaboos Stadium.
In the third Asian qualifying round for the World Cup, 18 teams will be divided into three groups of six teams, and the top two teams from each group will qualify for the finals. Korea is taking the first step toward advancing to the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time.
It is a very important start for Korea, and for Hong Myung-bo.
The process until Hong Myung-bo was appointed to the national team had many twists and turns. After the dismissal of Jurgen Klinsmann, the process of appointing a new head coach was not smooth. Negotiations with the originally planned foreign coach broke down, and later, he was met with criticism from fans and public opinion in the process of appointing a domestic coach. Eventually, the appointment was delayed for about five months, with Hwang Sun-hong and Kim Do-hoon taking temporary leadership.
Since then, Lee Im-saeng, technical director of the Korea Football Association (KFA), appointed Ulsan HD coach Hong Myung-bo at the time in a chaotic atmosphere, with Chung Hae-sung, chairman of the Korea Power Reinforcement Committee, stepping down and some members missing the meeting.
It is the third qualifying round of the World Cup, which will not be enough to set sail with everyone’s trust and support, but Hong Myung-bo got off to a shaky start due to the suspicious process.
Therefore, the contents and results of this two consecutive games should be good first. Only then can the public criticism be silenced.
Coach Hong Myung-bo has been visiting the K-League site with the coaching staff since the 16th to check on players who can be selected for the national team. He visited the K-League stadium until the 24th, and on the 25th, the day before the announcement of the list, the coaches visited all three stadiums where the K-League 1 will be held and checked the players until the end.
As there is a major game ahead, the prevailing view is that there will be no significant change.
Most European players, including Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), and Hwang In-beom (Zvezda), who head coach Hong Myung-bo met directly in Europe, are expected to wear the national flag.
In particular, Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in are light, scoring two goals each in the opening two games.
While existing one-option striker Cho Kyu-sung (Mit Willan) cannot play due to injury, attention is also being paid to whether he will pick Joo Min-kyu (Ulsan), who has won the championship for two consecutive seasons in Ulsan.
Another point to watch is whether Yang Min-hyuk, a “high school student K-League player” who leads Gangwon’s K-League 1 with eight goals and five assists this season, and Yoon Do-young (Daejeon), a striker of the same age, will be selected. 안전놀이터
Meanwhile, the World Cup qualifying round will have 23 players, while the national team will likely have around 25 players, taking into account variables such as injury, poor condition and away game. The 23-member roster for the actual match will be submitted to the AFC by the day before the match.
The first round of Hong Myung-bo, which will be convened on the same day, will be convened at Goyang Stadium on September 2 to conduct its first training session.