South Korean team captain Son Heung-min rescued his team late in the second half of their World Cup qualification match against Oman on Tuesday, putting his team into the lead for a much-needed away win.
Despite Son's heroics, pundits and fans alike have raised doubts about the head coach Hong Myung-bo's leadership of what could be Korea's strongest-ever collection of soccer talent.
The team had a shaky start with a goalless draw at home against minnows Palestine in its first Group B match of the third round in the Asian qualifications for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This culminated in boos and jeers from the home crowd, about which defender Kim Min-jae in particular had some strong opinions.
Add the dispute surrounding July appointment of the head coach, the Taegeuk Warriors appear to have a long way to go to win back the affection of the public.
Doubts remain over national team's performance
Despite Son's heroics and what appears to be an easy win on paper, some former players and commentators raised issue with Hong's tactical decisions. They suspected the win had come from individual talents of the players, rather than the organization of the squad.
Lee Chun-soo, formerly a teammate of Hong on the national squad, said the Koreans had been too defensive despite facing off against a weaker team.
"I'm glad we won but I'm not content with how we played. I guess it's thanks to (Son) Heung-min," he said while commentating the game on his YouTube channel.
Lee pointed out that the match did not reflect the usual playing style of South Korea, and the players looked to be too defense-oriented.
Park Moon-sung, a soccer play-by-play commentator who covers both pro and national teams, said the team seemed slow to respond to what the other team was doing.
As of now, South Korea ranks second in Group B behind Jordan, as both teams each notched one win and one draw but the Koreans have scored one less goal. The top two teams in the group head directly to the World Cup, and South Korea's upcoming matches in October are against Jordan and Iraq, who are generally considered tougher opponents than the two teams it has faced so far.
Asia has 8.5 slots in the World Cup, meaning one of the teams who fail to make the cut in the third round can still fight for a spot in the inter-confederation playoffs following the fourth round. But many South Korean fans are expressing discontent over what they said has been a mediocre performance, led by a coach that had fallen hard out of favor with them after his much-touted playing days.
Hong's controversial return as head coach
In the summer of 2002, Hong was the captain of the national squad that made the surprise run to the final four of the World Cup. He was undoubtedly among the most beloved figures in Korean soccer when he donned the national team shirt, praised for his silent but strong leadership and skillful plays against the superstars on the international stage.
Exactly 12 summers later, his name was tarnished in the country's worst World Cup outing since the turn of the century.
The 2002 Bronze Ball winner hung up his spikes in 2004 to pursue a career in coaching. After winning the Olympic bronze in 2012, he got his first shot at the national team head coach spot at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
With no win, one draw and 27th place finish in Brazil, Hong lost much of the credibility he had as an up-and-coming coach. Korea Football Association wanted to keep Hong despite the disappointing result, but he resigned on July 10, two weeks after his team was eliminated at the hands of the Belgians.
In the subsequent decade, Hong somewhat regained his reputation as a respectable coach through his successful stint with Ulsan HD FC in the K-League's top division. In spite of the initial doubts, he secured back-to-back league championships.
His fortunes changed again when the KFA called him to replace Jurgen Klinsmann, who was sacked as head coach after a disappointing semifinal exit from the Asian Cup in February.
The German's exit was followed by one of the most convoluted and complicated hiring processes in the Korea soccer history.
Reports indicated several questionable moves on the federation's part in the process of losing their two initial primary targets of Jesse Marsch and Jesus Casas, and the National Teams Committee chief Chung Hae-soung revealed that the KFA did not even negotiate with the coaches that were third and fourth option.
Korean soccer has produced a number of world-caliber soccer players, but there has not been a coach that can match their level of success. As of now, Huh Jung-moo of the 2010 national squad remains the only home-grown coach to have led the team to the knock-out rounds in the World Cup.
The fans were yearning for a top-tier coach that could duplicate the success of Guus Hiddink back in 2002, but rumors started suggesting that the federation was inclined to hire a local that they were familiar with.
Hong Myung-bo was the name that popped up most frequently in those rumors. Having held a job with the KFA as an executive between 2017 and 2020, he has a reputation for being a company man with a supposed "Korea University connection" with the KFA coach Chung Mong-gyu -- whose resignation the soccer fans have been screaming for since ousting of Klinsmann.
The supposed favoritism was never proven, but the suspicion has been fueled by the high proportion of high-ranking officials who graduated from the same university. Hong himself was accused of the pseudo-nepotism when he picked his alumni Park Chu-young for the national team in 2014, despite Park barely getting any playing time at Arsenal FC.
After the initial recruitment process fell through, the KFA restarted its search for a coach in late May. But it struggled to narrow down its list of 12 candidates -- which included Hong -- until at least late June, and local sports journalist Woo Chung-won criticized the federation by saying he has no idea what it did, adding that a coaching decision could be made with "an absurd reason."
In a move that confused the fans, Chung Hae-soung -- who had been leading the head coach search -- resigned on June 28 along with several members of his committee. Amid conflicting stories in the news, Hong was reported to have been chosen as head coach July 7.
This was even though Hong had explicitly denied reports that he will return for his second stint as a national team head coach throughout the process. He insisted that he wanted to focus on leading his pro team, and apologized to the Ulsan fans for taking the national team job afterwards.
KFA Technical Director Lee Lim-saeng said in a July 9 interview that the federation did not conduct an interview with Hong, and that he visited Hong's home to personally plead that he take the job. This sparked another furor, as other prominent candidates went through interviews with presentations about how they plan to lead the team.
When the smoke cleared, Hong was officially appointed on July 13.
Hong behind the eight balls
It is unclear exactly how much the controversy surrounding Hong's appointment has affected the fans' affection toward the national team.
The Palestine match in Seoul marked the first time in 11 months that a national team game did not play in front of a sell-out crowd at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, but this could partly be due to a ticket price hike.
Some 60,000 fans at the stadium greeted Hong with boos, which spilled over to the rest of the team when the players could not crack the Palestinians' defense. Son said the boos were upsetting and pleaded for their support, but defender Kim Min-jae walked up toward the stands and gestured for them to calm down.
He later said he was not being hostile, and said he was merely "a bit disappointed some people wanted us to fail."
It is unlikely many fans would actually want South Korea not to qualify for world soccer's biggest competition, which would be the first time since 1982. While not a sell-out, only 4,000 seats were left vacant on the match in Seoul on Sept.5.
Surveys show that substantial number of people are concerned about the head coach hiring process. A Gallup Korea survey in July on 1,000 adults showed that while 47 percent of the respondents were positive toward Hong's hiring, 25 percent were negative and the rest were unsure.
But younger male respondents -- who account for majority of the soccer fans -- reacted more negatively to return of Hong. Some 44 percent of men in their 20s and 54 percent of men in their 30s said Hong's hiring was wrong.
Hong's only way of justifying his place would be through success on the pitch, but the early results have been lackluster.
The next Group B match for South Korea will be on the road against Jordan on Oct. 10.
