Under scrutiny for lethargic performances, Korea gunning for knockout berth at World Cup

With the countdown to the FIFA World Cup having reached 30 days in Korea, fans will be waiting to see if their men's national football team will turn things around in time for the big tournament.

Since the controversial and largely unpopular hiring of Hong Myung-bo as head coach in the summer of 2024, fans have been expressing their displeasure toward the Taegeuk Warriors. When they packed stadiums as they normally do for the men's international matches, they booed Hong mercilessly and held up signs calling for the resignation of Korea Football Association President Chung Mong-gyu.

And then there were matches when fans simply didn't show up. On Oct. 14 last year, only 22,206 fans attended a friendly match against Paraguay at the 66,000-seat Seoul World Cup Stadium – the lowest number for a men's international match in 10 years. When Korea hosted Ghana on Nov. 18 at the same Seoul venue, 33,256 fans were on hand.

Korea won both of those matches, sandwiching another victory over Bolivia on Nov. 14 in the central city of Daejeon before about 33,000 supporters, but didn't look very convincing in any of them. And then Korea opened their World Cup year with two consecutive losses in away friendly matches — a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Ivory Coast on March 28 and a 1-0 loss to Austria three days later.

Fans' collective confidence level seems to be at an all-time low. However, world No. 25 Korea will play in what many pundits say is one of the softer groups at the World Cup, as they ended up with 15th-ranked Mexico, 41st-ranked Czechia and 60th-ranked South Africa in Group A.

Korea will open the proceedings against Czechia at 8 p.m. on June 11 in Guadalajara (11 a.m. on June 12 in Korea), followed by Mexico at 7 p.m. on June 18 in Guadalajara (10 a.m. on June 19 in Korea), and then South Africa at 7 p.m. on June 24 in Monterrey (10 a.m. on June 25 in Korea).

With all three matches in Mexico and two in the same city, Korea will have much less travel burden than many others in the first World Cup to be co-hosted by three countries — Mexico, Canada and the United States.

This will also be the largest World Cup, with 48 nations in action, up from the previous 32. The knockout stage will begin with a round of 32, featuring the top two teams from each of the 12 groups and eight-best teams among No. 3 seeds.

These factors have led experts to believe Korea should have little trouble making it out of the group phase. Just how far they can go once they get there, though, is anyone's guess.

Korea will be making their 11th consecutive World Cup appearance. For tournaments held away from home, they have reached the knockout stage twice — in 2010 in South Africa and in 2022 in Qatar.

"I think Korea will get to at least the round of 16," television analyst Kim Dae-gil said. "Just looking at the group stage opponents, Korea won't have to expend as much energy as in some previous tournaments. We can beat Czechia and South Africa six times out of 10. And if we qualify for the knockouts as the top seed or No. 2 seed, then we will meet a beatable opponent in the round of 32."

Kim said captain Son Heung-min, who plays for Los Angeles Football Club, and playmaker Lee Kang-in, midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain, can be the type of "game changers" that can create scoring chances out of nothing. But Kim was concerned about Korea's lack of depth behind those two attackers.

"The gap between the starters and backups is substantial," he said. "To reach beyond the round of 16, the team will need players who can support the regulars. It is imperative for the likes of Son Heung-min to stay healthy."

Two other analysts were more pessimistic than Kim. Seo Hyung-wook said he had initially thought Korea would be good enough to make it to the round of 16 but adjusted his prediction to the round of 32, given the ankle injury to midfielder Hwang In-beom.

Hwang, a savvy, two-way force for Korea, is as irreplaceable as anyone on the team. He is currently rehabbing his right ankle injury, which he sustained in March playing for his Dutch club Feyenoord, with the help of the national team medical staff.

"Other mainstays have not been playing well," Seo noted. "Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae (of Bayern Munich) have not been playing much for their clubs."

Seo said Korea's strength will be the chemistry among Europe-based stars, such as Son, Lee and Kim, who have been playing together for a long time.

"The problem is there just aren't many of them," Seo added. "At this moment, I don't think you could say anyone can play at a world-class level at the World Cup."

The third analyst, Park Chan-ha, also predicted that Korea's World Cup will end in the round of 32.

"Hong Myung-bo's team has some talented players," Park said. "And yet, they often have trouble creating scoring chances. The team relies on players' individual skills to try to capitalize on those few opportunities, but you can only do so much of that at the World Cup. I think we already saw problems with this approach in the two losses in March."

Park also said if Hwang is unable to go or is limited at the World Cup, then these issues will only be exacerbated.

"I think the first match against Czechia will be the most important one," Park said. "This is the one Korea must win, and they will be in trouble if they don't get it done. Czechia are not an offensive-minded team, and Korea may have difficulty breaking through their defense."

Seo also said the opening match will be crucial.

"In our World Cup history, the outcome of the first match often determined the fate for the rest of the tournament," Seo said. "Mexico will be a tough test in the second match, and if we don't win the first match, we will be in big trouble."

Kim Dae-gil opined that the second match against Mexico will be more important, saying, "I think Korea and Mexico will battle for the top spot in the group."

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