"I met Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae in person" Director Hong Myung-bo completed a "European inspection" around London-Munich-Paris. "We will not shake the external environment.""

*This content was translated by AI.

Hong Myung-bo (57), head coach of the South Korean national soccer team, has completed an inspection of the European team.

The Korea Football Association said on the 3rd, "Coach Hong Myung-bo, ahead of the two consecutive A matches in March, met European players."

According to the association, Hong, along with coaches Kim Dong-jin and Kim Jin-kyu, traveled around Europe last month to check the conditions of players who are active there.

The national team's coaching staff, who left for Europe in mid-February, reportedly went through England, Germany and France for two weeks to watch games and interview players.

"The inspection was conducted in consideration of the characteristics of the national team led by European players," an association official told Star News. "The purpose of this business trip is to directly check the performance of the players in Europe using the off-season period of the K-League and to check the condition of each player in depth through face-to-face interviews."

First, he headed to London, England, and watched Um Ji-sung (Swansea City), Bae Joon-ho (Stoke City), and Yang Min-hyuk (Coventry) in turn. Since then, it has been reported that he met and interviewed with national team players playing in England, including Um Ji-sung, Bae Jun-ho, Yang Min-hyuk, Baek Seung-ho, Jeon Jin-woo and Hwang Hee-chan.

After finishing his schedule in the U.K., Hong immediately moved to Dusseldorf, Germany. Here, he met with Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), who plays for Mainz in the German Bundesliga, and Jens Kastrov, who plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In addition, he watched Kwon Hyuk-kyu (Carlsruer), who is playing in the Bundesliga 2 (division 2), and checked the players' condition.

In addition, coach Hong Myung-bo met Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord), who is active in the Netherlands, and then moved to Munich, Germany, where he met Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich). The national team's coaches, who later moved to Paris, France, met with Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and completed all schedules and returned to Korea on the 1st.

In addition, Cho Kyu-sung, Lee Han-beom (Mitwilan, Denmark), Lee Tae-seok (FK Austria Vienna Austria), Lee Hyun-joo (FC Aroca, Portugal), and Yang Hyun-joon (Celtic FC, Scotland), who were not able to check in person, are known to have Portuguese coaches watching the game and holding interviews with players.

Coach Hong Myung-bo said through the Korea Football Association, "The World Cup seems to be receiving a lot of attention from the opening game due to various external situations," but added, "Our national team is not shaken by such an external environment, and plans to do our best on what we can do right now."

"Through this business trip, we were able to check the conditions of the major players of the national team and talk about various things," he said, adding, "We will make sure all staff and players prepare well for the tournament in their respective positions until the opening game of the tournament, which is 100 days away."

Hong Myung-bo Team will face Ivory Coast on the 28th through the A-match period in March and then face Austria on April 1.

2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup will play in Group A with hosts Mexico, "African ambush" South Africa, and European playoff D countries.

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*This content was translated by AI.