Hong Myung-bo, who departed amid turmoil, has completed his A-match schedule this year with a goal scored by his returning captain Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur) for two consecutive games. However, he failed to remove the question mark on how to use Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain). In particular, he needs to find a way to manage physical strength of Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) in order to increase concentration of the defense team that has lost three consecutive games.
The Korean national soccer team will return to Korea on Monday after finishing two consecutive rounds of the Middle East at the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup with a disappointing performance (one win and one draw). Korea, which tied the sixth match against the Palestinians 1-1 in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday, maintained its lead in the group (14 points, four wins and two draws), but allowed the team to pursue Iraq (11 points, three wins, two draws and one loss). Coach Hong Myung-bo will reorganize his team until the home game against Oman on March 20 next year and start to hunt for points again.
Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in, the two main pillars of their attacks, had mixed feelings. In the match against Palestine, Son played full-time for 90 minutes in just two months while wearing the national team uniform. In the 16th minute of the first half, he exchanged triangular passes with Lee Myung-jae (Ulsan HD) and Lee Jae-seong (Mainz) from the left side and poked the ball into the right corner of the net. It was his second consecutive goal following the penalty kick goal in the fifth match against Kuwait on Sunday.
However, Lee remained silent for six consecutive games during the third qualifying round. He managed to score 92 percent of pass rate for 72 minutes, but failed to display partial tactics against his teammates, so he relied on crosses. As ace pitchers struggled, he couldn’t find a solution to penetrate the opponent team’s defense, which had the entire offense team down. “When an opponent with strong teamwork strengthens defense, he should beef up his determination,” Hong said after the game.
His concentration on defense was also disappointing. Kim Min-jae, “the pillar of the national team,” was passing towards goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo (Ulsan) at the 12th minute of the first half when his opponent lost the goal. Cho Yoo-min (Sharjah), the central defensive partner, defended it as “the team’s mistake, not an individual one,” but Kim rejected the interview with his hands together and exited the stadium with his head down. 토토사이트
South Korea has conceded four goals in all of its recent three games. Three of them came in the latter half due to poor physical stamina and concentration. In September, Hong gave Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan) and Jeong Seung-hyeon (Al-Wasl) to play the central defense in the first match against the Palestinians and in the second match against Oman. Kim Min-jae and Cho Yoo-min have combined in all four matches since then, with the exception of the third match against Jordan (2-0 win) on June 10, there will be no clean sheet (no goals lost).
“It is difficult to change the central defense lineup often, but we need to come up with alternatives based on physical strength,” Coupang Play commentator Han Joon-hee said in a telephone interview with the Seoul Shimbun. “Kim Min-jae needs to be given rest when he has time because he has a strong schedule in his team,” adding, “In order to increase Lee’s influence, we need to increase his connection with Seol Young-woo (Zvezda) and Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord). Another way is to move to the center.”