{"id":700920,"date":"2026-06-13T02:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T02:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/700920\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T02:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T02:55:11","slug":"just-getting-to-the-world-cup-is-no-longer-enough-for-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/700920\/","title":{"rendered":"Just getting to the World Cup is no longer enough for South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Fans walk past a mural commemorating the 2002 World Cup outside a stadium in Jeju, South Korea. That competition was South Korea’s best ever showing, with the East Asian team struggling to break through in recent tournaments.James Griffiths\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The home fans, a sea of orange seated beneath a giant screen at the northern end of the stadium, groaned as the second goal went in. <\/p>\n

It was the 11th game of the season, and the 2-0 loss left Jeju SK FC firmly in relegation territory. But, as fans\u2019 attention turns from the domestic league to the World Cup<\/a>, at least Jeju supporters have some hope of turning things around \u2013 a stark contrast to how many feel about their country\u2019s chances in North America, though the team won its opening game. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely an air of gloom around the national team that\u2019s been there for a couple of years,\u201d said John Duerden, a sportswriter previously based in South Korea who runs a Substack page focused on Asian soccer<\/a>. \u201cOne of the positives is that expectations are pretty low.\u201d <\/p>\n

Seo Ho-jeong, a soccer commentator and YouTuber, said the atmosphere is \u201cbordering on indifference,\u201d with many fans feeling South Korean soccer is going through a \u201cdark age.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the fact that this could be the last World Cup for Son Heung-min, a living legend of Korean football, Koreans do not have high expectations,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Son, formerly of Tottenham Hotspur and now playing for Los Angeles FC, is widely regarded as one of the best Asian players of all time. But while South Korea has produced significant talent over the years, with players across the European leagues, the national side have been the also-rans of Asian soccer, coming in a respectable 25th in the world rankings<\/a> (five ahead of Canada), but never really shaking the regional dominance of rivals Japan.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

South Korea’s Lee Gi-hyeok moves the ball past Czechia’s Mojmir Chytil during the World Cup Group A soccer match in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday.Dolores Ochoa\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

In spite of the low expectations heading into the tournament, South Korea won their opening match<\/a> against Czechia 2-1 on the first day of the World Cup on Thursday, coming back from a goal down to make a successful start to their Group A campaign.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s best World Cup showing was in 2002, when South Korea and Japan shared hosting duties, with three games played on Jeju Island in a purpose-built near-30,000-seat stadium shaped like the mouth of a volcano that is now home to the island\u2019s eponymous K League team. <\/p>\n

At that tournament, South Korea outperformed Japan, who were knocked out in the round of 16, finishing fourth after a semi-final loss to Germany, who were in turn defeated by champions Brazil. Since then, however, South Korea have never got past the round of 16, and in 2014 and 2018 did not even make it through the group stages. <\/p>\n

Highlights from Canada\u2019s historic World Cup opening game<\/a><\/p>\n

This year, facing Mexico, South Africa and Czechia in Group A, the Taegeuk Warriors, the team\u2019s official nickname, would be widely expected to cruise through in second if not first place. But there is scant confidence in the team in South Korea itself, where press and social media coverage has focused on poor showings in warm-up matches and an ongoing controversy around allegations of preferential treatment in the hiring of coach Hong Myung-bo. <\/p>\n

Many fans were frustrated after South Korea lost to lower-ranked Ivory Coast in March, after a number of disappointing friendlies.<\/p>\n

In a video, Shin Moon-seon, a former soccer commentator turned popular YouTuber<\/a>, blamed the loss on \u201cthe coach\u2019s incompetence,\u201d adding \u201cthe preparation for the World Cup has never been this poor.\u201d <\/p>\n

After South Korea lost their final warm-up game to Austria 1-0 in March, Shin again unleashed a torrent of criticism on YouTube against both Hong and the Korea Football Association, which he described as a \u201cwithered flower with rotten roots.\u201d <\/p>\n

A shadow has hung over Hong, a legendary former player who captained South Korea at the 2002 World Cup and went on to have a successful coaching career, since his appointment in 2024. At the time, he was managing K League team Ulsan HD FC, having revitalized the struggling team and led them to two consecutive titles, a pedigree that would seem perfectly suited for taking over the national side. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a sense that he\u2019d left his team in the lurch \u2013 fans weren\u2019t happy about that,\u201d said Duerden. <\/p>\n

This was compounded by reports the Korea Football Association had not followed proper procedure in choosing Hong, prompting allegations of favouritism and backroom deals. Months after his appointment, Hong appeared before a parliamentary committee, where he testified<\/a>, \u201cI accepted the job because I was told I was the top candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Under Hong, South Korea\u2019s form has been inconsistent at best, and seemingly gotten worse as the World Cup approached. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are major concerns about \u2018does he know his best team\u2019, \u2018does he know how he wants to play?\u2019\u201d Duerden said.<\/p>\n

Should South Korea crash out in the round of 16, or not even get through their group, as some fear, Duerden said there could be a repeat of 2014, when, arriving at Seoul\u2019s Incheon International Airport, the team were pelted with sweets<\/a> (\u201ceat yeot\u201d is an insult in South Korea similar to \u201cget lost\u201d). The coach at the time? Hong Myung-bo. <\/p>\n

Hong resigned soon after that tournament, and a poor showing in North America could spell the end of his latest position too. It could also raise questions about the need for wider reform within the KFA itself, something Seo and others have long been pushing for. <\/p>\n

If the team performs poorly, Seo said, it\u2019s likely the entire management team, including the chair of the Korea Football Association, could be looking for work. \u201cIf that happens, significant changes will await.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s recent struggles have been a stark \u2013 and unwelcome \u2013 contrast to Japan\u2019s \u201cconsistent improvement,\u201d said Duerden. \u201cKorea have been bouncing along from coach to coach not really establishing a proper national identity. Contrast that with Japan\u2019s steady progress.\u201d <\/p>\n

It may be some relief then for South Korea that they\u2019re unlikely to face their former rivals at this World Cup before the quarter-finals \u2013 a point few think they will reach. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Fans walk past a mural commemorating the 2002 World Cup outside a stadium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[303141,403,99],"class_list":["post-700920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-2026worldcupglobe","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}