The price of his disappointing performance and poor performance was too high. Hong Myung-bo is threatened even with the lead position.
In November, the South Korean national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo of the A-match, completed the 5th and 6th rounds of Group B of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup with Kuwait and Palestine.
The result was a 1-1 win over Kuwait in Game 5, but a 1-1 draw against the Palestinians in Game 6.
In the third qualifying round for the World Cup, the top two teams in the group will advance to the World Cup finals. The third to fourth teams will be eliminated in the fourth qualifying round, while the fifth to sixth teams will be eliminated. At the very least, the team needs to secure the second place in the group to have more leeway to sharpen its capacity through warm-up matches during the remaining period.
Team Hong Myung-bo is cruising through the third qualifying round. The team remains in the lead with four wins and two draws (14 points). However, it only gained one point at the match against Palestine on Wednesday, allowing lower ranking teams to chase after the latter.
The Palestinians had to face a disappointing result again. When Coach Hong Myung-bo departed in September for the first time, the team finished the match with a 0-0 draw after a disastrous performance at home. Concerns grew since the launch, but Hong Myung-bo boosted the mood by winning 3-1 against Oman in the second round, 2-0 against Jordan in the third, 3-1 against Iraq in the fourth, and 3-1 against Kuwait in the fifth.
Hong Myung-bo, who also had a 1-1 draw with the Palestinians in his second showdown, paid a considerable price. Korea only added one point while second-ranked Iraq and third-ranked Jordan were chasing each other with eight points. Jordan, the third-ranked team, slowed down by having a 1-1 draw with Kuwait, but Iraq, the archrival, added three more points by beating Oman 1-0.
Now, the gap with second-ranked Iraq (11 points) is three points. It is a one-game gap. Korea needed to win the match against Palestine in order to quickly confirm its advance to the World Cup finals, but failed to achieve it, and the team is now being chased again.
The A-match schedule for 2024 has all ended. Hong Myung-bo will have a clear task of “strengthening his defense capability.” Although Hong’s unbeaten streak since his inauguration is encouraging, he has been shaken by five goals in six games in the third qualifying round. It is true that it is somewhat regrettable that there are players who are showing the best performances on the European soccer stage, including Son Heung-min, Lee Jae-sung, Hwang Hee-chan, Hwang In-beom, Kim Min-jae, Seol Young-woo, and Lee Kang-in.
In addition, there is a need for a clever way to destroy the defense that has fallen deep like Palestine.
The third qualifying round will begin again in March next year. The return leg will invite Oman and Jordan in two consecutive home matches. By garnering six points against the two teams, the team should solidify its lead and display itself as an “Asian powerhouse” with more perfect performance. 온라인바카라
Meanwhile, all of the third qualifying rounds have passed the halfway point. Excluding Korea’s Group B, Iran ranks first with five wins and one draw (16 points), Uzbekistan ranks second with four wins, one draw and one loss (13 points), and the United Arab Emirates ranks third with three wins, one draw and two losses (10 points).
Group C became the “Group of Death” as Indonesia led by coach Shin Tae-yong won for the first time. Japan led the league with five wins, one draw and 16 points, but Australia ranked second with one win, four draws and one loss with seven points, while Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and China are competing with six points.