"Hong Myung-bo's Hong Myung-bo Team season out 2 players and Baek Seung-ho collapsed. What should I do with my repeated injuries in the midfield?"

*This content was translated by AI.

Another 'makjae' came to the Hong Myung-bo Team. This time, it is about the injury of Baek Seung-ho (Birmingham City). Fortunately, he seems to have avoided serious injuries, but the problem is that the same injury was repeated in three months. National team coach Hong Myung-bo is also bound to suffer as two midfield resources have already been ruled out for the season and another key player, Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord), is also injured.

Baek Seung-ho started the 2025-2026 English Professional Football Championship (second division) against West Bromwich Albion (WBA) at St Andrews in Birmingham, England on the 11th (Korea time), but was replaced in the 15th minute due to a shoulder injury. In the process of landing after attempting a header shot in a corner kick situation, he felt pain in his left shoulder and was eventually replaced.

It is fortunate that it is not a serious injury, but it is a concern that he was injured in the same area in three months following November last year. This is because not only is the possibility of recurrence of injuries in the same part in the future, but it is also a problem that naturally has an adverse effect on performance.

Coach Hong Myung-bo, who is only four months away from the opening of the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup, will also have a deeper concern. Hong Myung-bo Team has already left the battle line one after another, following Park Yong-woo (Al-Ain) and Kong Won-jae (Corpacan). Park Yong-woo's cruciate ligament rupture injury and Won Doo-jae's shoulder surgery made it virtually difficult to play in the World Cup. In other words, the first and second-ranked resources that coach Hong Myung-bo selected as defensive midfielder resources have been eliminated one after another. On top of that, even Baek Seung-ho has been injured repeatedly, making it difficult to be sure of his 100% physical condition.

To make matters worse, even Hwang In-beom, the core of the midfield, often leaves due to injuries. Hwang In-beom was immediately excluded from the national team due to injuries, including the U.S. and Mexico games in September last year and the Bolivia and Ghana games in November. Coach Hong's plan to conceive a midfield combination centered on Hwang In-beom was also twisted repeatedly. Hong Myung-bo Team has to play in the World Cup after only one or two warm-up matches in March against Ivory Coast and Austria, and in May and June, so concerns about the combination of midfield are inevitably growing.

Coach Hong Myung-bo previously said after the A-match warm-up match in October last year, "Now, I think we need to narrow down the scope of the (team)," and announced his plan to focus more on strengthening the organization around existing players rather than selecting a wide range of players. However, with two people already away, even other resources are not free from the risk of additional injuries, so it is time to reorganize the midfield combination strategy in preparation for the World Cup. If additional defectors come out in the future, Hong Myung-bo Team's World Cup plan itself will become more twisted.

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*This content was translated by AI.