Son Heung-min's last dance → Will Hong Myung-bo beat Bento's team in the 'Far Away Round of 16' [2026 World Cup 1]

*This content was translated by AI.

The year of the World Cup has dawned. It is the first tournament to be held by expanding to a tournament system of 48 participants and 32 strongest teams, not a tournament of 32 participants and 16 strongest teams. Despite the controversy over the coach's appointment process and criticism of his performance, the Korean national soccer team aimed to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in its history. Star News will introduce the 2026 North American World Cup (June 11 to July 19) as a series, including the comparison of the previous Bento and Hong Myung-bo's power, the expected performance of the Korean national team such as experts and foreign affairs, and the game of the tournament, which has expanded to 48 countries. /Editor's note

In contrast to Paulo Bento (57) of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, who assembled the national team amid a steady back build-up system, the national team under Hong Myung-bo (57) is undergoing changes in tactics and composition even with about half a year left before the World Cup finals.

The roster of the team is in full swing from defense to offense. In the defense, young center backs such as Lee Han-beom (Mit Willan) and Kim Joo-sung (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) are mentioned as new pillars instead of Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan HD) and Kwon Kyung-won (FC Anyang), who have been partners for a long time as Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich).

The full-back line was also completely reorganized from Kim Jin-soo, Hong-cheol, and Kim Tae-hwan to Lee Tae-seok (Austria Vienna), Lee Myung-jae (Daejeon Hana Citizen), and Seol Young-woo (Trvena Zvezda) on the right, and recently even Kim Moon-hwan (Daejeon) boarded again to establish a competitive system.

Starting with Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord), Baek Seung-ho (Birmingham City), Kim Jin-kyu (Jeonbuk), Won Doo-jae (Corpacan Club), and the first German-born Korean national team Jens Kastrov (Borussia Mönchengladbach) joined the vacancy, excluding Jung Woo-young and Son Joon-ho, who were the focal points of the midfielder team.

Oh Hyun-kyu (KRC Genk) is also at the forefront of the offense, and even Cho Kyu-sung (Mit Willan), who recently returned from a long-term injury, has joined as a front-line contender. Young resources such as Bae Joon-ho (Stoke City), Um Ji-sung (Swansea City), and Jung Sang-bin (St. Louis City), who added to the side, are also adding vitality.

Oh Hyun-kyu, who was the youngest player at the World Cup in Qatar, has grown into Korea's main striker. Oh Hyun-kyu, who was the 27th member to prepare for the fall of Son Heung-min (then Tottenham Hotspur, now Los Angeles FC), who suffered from an orbital fracture in the tournament, and who was helping him train in a uniform without a uniform, is now a confident candidate for the main striker.

In particular, the World Cup is likely to be the "last dance" stage for Son Heung-min, the symbol of Korean soccer. This is also the reason why Son Heung-min chose his first U.S. stage after leaving the English Premier League (EPL) stage behind.

Son Heung-min is still showing off his destructive power by scoring goals in his team every day, but in Hong Myung-bo, he has homework on how to use the national team, struggling with the opponent's intensive checks and continuing his silence on field goals for the last four A matches.

Even in the process of transplanting tactical philosophy, Bento and Hong Myung-bo systems show a big temperature difference. Throughout his tenure, former coach Bento insisted on active soccer based on rear build-ups and reached the peak of tactical perfection. Bento's team strengthened its competitiveness in the finals by playing a total of nine warm-up matches from the match against Iceland in January 2022 to the last appearance in November. On the other hand, Coach Hong Myung-bo is experimenting with an anomalous defense line, starting with the East Asian Cup after Plan A based on four backs.

However, it is unclear whether these changes will work on the main stage. The national team under coach Hong Myung-bo had three central defenders in a friendly match with Brazil in October last year, but lost helplessly 0-5 by exposing the gap and instability in defensive organization when switching to offense and defense. In addition, the team is attempting autonomous tactics to maximize creativity by elevating Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), who was a rotation resource, to an ace in Bento's team, but there were frequent scenes that led to the collapse of the balance of the entire team.

The actual inspection schedule is also a thorny road. Coach Hong Myung-bo is facing difficulties in recruiting opponents for the warm-up match ahead of his European away match in March this year. Only the match against Austria has been virtually confirmed, and the weight of sparring partners is lower than that of competitors such as Japan, which plays away games in England. European powerhouses such as France and England have already confirmed their schedules or are heading to North and Central America, making it difficult to find opponents, and recruiting African teams such as Morocco, Senegal and Egypt, which were the next best options, is also difficult.

Four years ago, Bento broke through the so-called Group of Death in Qatar. Against Uruguay (0-0), Ghana (2-3 losses), and Portugal (2-1 wins), he showed a soccer that did not give up the lead and achieved the advance to the round of 16.

The Group A match, which head coach Hong Myung-bo will face, is considered relatively easy as the winner of the playoffs in South Africa and Europe, as well as Mexico, the host country, but they are quite tricky opponents who are difficult to be optimistic about the results. Mexico, which is a regular in the round of 16 at the World Cup, plays with enthusiastic local fans' support, while South Africa continues to perform solidly, with six wins, five draws and one loss in the last 12 games. In the end, whether or not to secure practical team organization beyond tactical experiments and dependence on key resources will determine the success or failure of the finals in six months.

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*This content was translated by AI.