“It is difficult to identify the starting players until a day before the game.”
At Abdullah Al Khalifa Stadium, where training took place two days before the fifth Group B match of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Kuwait on the 12th, an official of the national soccer team watched the players’ training and mentioned the “select list in the vale.”
The official said, “If you look at the training, you’ve seen the outline of the starting players, but it’s hard to predict them easily after Hong Myung-bo took the helm.” This means that competition within the team has become stronger as a number of new players have joined.
South Korea won 3-1 away to Oman in the second round after a tough first match with Palestine in the first round of the third round of the North-China World Cup qualifying round in September. It then beat Jordan (2-0 wins) and Iraq (3-2 wins) in the third and fourth rounds of the World Cup qualifying round held in October, and tasted the joy of winning three consecutive games.
The “young blood” that Hong has transfused into the national team is boiling. In the first and second rounds, Yang Min-hyuk (Kangwon) who has been confirmed to be transferred to Tottenham Hotspur (England) was selected, and in the third and fourth rounds, he called on Bae Joon-ho (Stoke City), Oh Se-hoon (Machida Zelvia), and Oh Hyun-kyu (Henk), inducing the strikers to compete. Bae recorded assistance in two consecutive games in the third and fourth rounds, while Oh and Oh scored in the match against Iraq. In the fifth and sixth rounds of the third round of the World Cup qualifying round, which will be held in two consecutive away matches in the Middle East, Hong selected midfielder Lee Hyun-joo (Hannover) and fullback Lee Tae-seok (Pohang), sparking “competition within the team” in his resources beyond the strikers. 메이저사이트
In response, Hong expressed concern about the side effects of “fixing the starting players.” “The starting players of the national team should not be fixed,” he said. “If I think that I can play even if I join the national team at any time, the competitiveness of the national team disappears.” “If a new player comes in and does well, the existing player can sit on the bench at any time,” he stressed. “New players coming into the national team are bound to lack experience, and we have to find a way to make up for it,” Hong said. “It’s hard to catch up with the existing players, but I’m sure I’ll regret it when the call-up is over. You have to appeal your good self without overdoing it.”
South Korea will play Kuwait in the fifth Group B match (11 p.m. on the 14th in Korea).