The South Korean national soccer team is starting to get going, but can new coach Hong Myung Bo deliver results?

The South Korean national soccer team began preparations for the 2026 World Cup Asian final qualifying round on the 2nd of this month. The team is under the direction of head coach Hong Myung Bo, who took over in July of this year.
The team will face the final qualifying round for the World Cup. The selection of the new coach was criticized by the former South Korean national team members who were involved in the selection process as being opaque, and fans are growing increasingly distrustful.
Hong took over as manager of the South Korean national team in June 2013, but some fans are skeptical of Hong's abilities, as South Korea was eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup the following year.
Regarding the South Korean national team coach, Jurgen Klinsmann was dismissed in February this year, and the Korea Football Association (KFA) initially planned to invite a foreign coach and was in the process of selecting a successor.
The KFA had been working on a number of projects to determine the new head coach, with the aim of deciding on a new manager by early May, but the process proved difficult. After a five-month search, the KFA announced in July that they had decided to appoint Hong as the new head coach.
Hong is 55 years old and a former member of Seoul City. He started his professional career in 1992 and has participated in four consecutive World Cups since the 1990 Italy tournament.
He also played in the J-League, playing for Bellmare Hiratsuka and Kashiwa Reysol. In the 2002 Japan-Korea World Cup, he was the fifth kicker in the penalty shootout against Spain in the quarter-finals.
He was successful in leading Korea to the semi-finals. In 2004, he was selected by the "King of Soccer" Pele as one of the "100 Greatest Soccer Players". After retiring from active play in the same year, he played for the U-2
3) He has served as assistant coach for the national team and manager of the U-20 national team. He took charge of the South Korean national team in June 2013, but South Korea was eliminated in the group stage of the following year's World Cup.
Hong retired as national team manager. In 2021, he will be the head coach of Ulsan, a club that will join the Korean professional soccer league, K League 1.
He served as FC's manager and led the team to consecutive K League titles in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Hong will be coaching the national team for the first time in 10 years since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but as soon as his appointment was announced, there was a flood of positive reviews of him online.
Opinions were divided. Some were positive, saying, "Hong is far better than the half-baked foreign coaches," while others said, "He has no tactics at all," and "It's over. We can't have high hopes for the World Cup."
Some people questioned Hong's ability, saying, "He's not a good leader." Others pointed out that there were problems with the process of selecting Hong. Park Chu, former South Korea representative who was involved in the selection,
Heo exposed the inside story of the selection of the national team coach on the video sharing website "YouTube". He pointed out that there was a move to exclude foreigners in the selection of the coach. Meanwhile, the KFA responded to Park's criticism by saying, "
The head coach of Ulsan in the Korean K League,
Fans were infuriated by the fact that Hong, who was currently the FC manager, was "poached" to become the national team manager.
At his inauguration press conference on July 29, Hong stated his intention to aim for the quarterfinals or higher in the 2026 World Cup.
Regarding the criticism he received from fans, he apologized, saying, "I am sorry for disappointing the fans," and added, "In order to be forgiven by the fans, I need to achieve growth and development of the national team."
He also said, "Many risks come from a lack of communication. I will talk freely with the players," and expressed his intention to lead the team based on the spirit of "respect, dialogue, responsibility, and dedication."
On the 26th of last month, Hong announced the 26 players who would take part in the Asian final qualifying round. Yonhap News reported, "South Korean captain Son Heung-Min (Tottenham) and Hwang Hee-Hyeon (Korean national team captain) will be the main players.
As expected, the two-man front line of Jang (Wolverhampton), next-generation ace midfielder Lee Kang In (Paris Saint-Germain), and defensive pillar Kim Min Jae (Bayern Munich)
"While there has been criticism that the process for selecting the coach was not transparent, Hong said that he wanted to select players who would bring about "change within stability" in the selection process for the national team.
From the J.League, Shonan Bellmare's Song Bum Keun and FC Machida Serbia's FW Oh Sehun were selected.
Yang Min-hyuk, an 18-year-old forward who is set to join South Korea's Tottenham Hotspur, was also included in the squad. Yang, who plays for Kangwon FC in the Korean K-League, was named to the monthly player list.
He won the Best Player Award for four consecutive months. He is a young striker who is attracting attention right now. He also became the youngest Korean player to join the English Premier League.
The South Korean national team began preparations for the final Asian qualifying round for the World Cup on the 2nd of this month. Speaking to reporters before practice, Coach Hong said, "I'm excited, but at the same time I'm scared.
"That's because I've had experience as a national team coach in the past," he said, expressing his feelings ahead of the final qualifying round. The South Korean national team will play in the final qualifying round at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 5th.
The first match will be against Palestine.