"World Cup dream is practically over."' South Korean soccer Korea turned away by coach Hong Myung-bo.

*This content was translated by AI.

Following Hong Myung-bo Team's March warm-up list preparing for the 2026 FIFA 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup, Lee Min-sung's call-up training list preparing for the 2026 Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games was also announced. Young European players, who have been shunned by Hong Myung-bo even though they have been performing well in their teams or have been called by Hong in the past, have actually been pushed out of the competition for 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup.

The Korea Football Association announced on the 17th the list of Lee Min-sung to be convened at Korea Football Park in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, at the end of this month. The U-23 national team, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, is preparing for the Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games in September. Lee Min-sung will convene and conduct training from the 23rd to the 31st. They will also play behind closed doors practice games with the U-22 U-21 and Japanese U-21 teams.

On the previous day, the list of Hong Myung-bo Team who will go on the road to Europe at the end of this month and play two straight A matches in Ivory Coast (neutral) and Austria (away) was announced. It is the national team's roster that will actually play the final mock test ahead of the announcement of the final entry for the World Cup. Coach Hong said at a press conference, "Nothing has been decided right now. Players who show good performance from April to May can come back," he said, signaling infinite competition, but it is unlikely that a player who was excluded from the national team list in March will make a surprise entry into the final entry of the World Cup unless the player is returned due to inevitable reasons such as injuries.

In particular, attention is focused on young European players who have been shunned by head coach Hong Myung-bo and are heading to Lee Min-sung. There are as many as eight European players on the 25-member call-up list, including some who were actually called by coach Hong Myung-bo and were put to the test in the A national team or raised the possibility of the World Cup based on their team's performance. For them, the news of the "exclusion of Hong Myung-bo Team and boarding the Lee Min-sung ship" can only be read as a message to focus on the Asian Games instead of the dramatic dream of boarding the World Cup.

Yang Min-hyuk (20, Coventry City), Lee Hyun-joo (23, FC Aroka) and Kim Ji-soo (22, Kaiserslautern), who were considered the most sacred players in Korean soccer, were already called by coach Hong Myung-bo and could not survive the competition even after boarding the A national team. Yang Min-hyuk played two A matches three times, including the first call-up of Hong Myung-bo Team in September 2024, against Palestine and Oman, against Oman and Jordan in March last year, and against Bolivia and Ghana in November last year. However, the competition for the second term of the national team is so fierce, and the World Cup challenge has become virtually difficult as his team has been virtually judged to be "out of power."

Kim Ji-soo was a Shin Sung center back who was paying attention not only to Hong Myung-bo but also to former German coach Jurgen Klinsmann. He also joined the final entry of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in 2024, and coach Hong also convened Kim Ji-soo through Brazil-Paraguay in October last year. However, even after going back and forth to the A national team for a long time, he still hasn't received an opportunity to play in an A match. Kim Ji-soo is regrettable in that he has been consistently participating in the Kaiserslautern in the second part of Germany since last month.

Lee Hyun-joo was selected in a surprise match against Kuwait and Palestine in November 2024, the third convocation since the launch of Hong Myung-bo Team. At the time, head coach Hong expressed expectations, saying, "I think it's a good option to use because there's no style like Lee Hyun-joo in the national team," but Lee Hyun-joo ended up joining Lee Min-sung after not being able to reach Hong Myung-bo Team again for the first and last time in the match against Kuwait.

Kim Min-soo, who plays for Andorra in Spain's second division, is playing well this season with six goals and three assists. In Spain, it is even pointed out as 'post Son Heung-min (Los Angeles FC)' in conjunction with the style of play. He was also a player who steadily raised the possibility of boarding the Hong Myung-bo Team as he played as a key player in his team. However, coach Hong Myung-bo's eyes did not reach Kim Min-soo in the end in the fierce competition for the second term. Instead, Kim Min-soo is more likely to play the season with a greater focus on the Asian Games than the World Cup.

The same goes for young players heading to Europe based on their K-League performances such as Park Seung-soo (Newcastle United) and Yoon Do-young (FC Dorecht). Kim Myung-joon (Henk) and Lee Young-joon (Grathhofer) have also not been able to reach coach Hong Myung-bo so far, and apart from their team's performance, they eventually joined Lee Min-sung, not Hong Myung-bo Team, about three months before the World Cup. Of course, there is a possibility of a "great reversal" depending on whether the players heading to the U-23 national team will play in their teams for the rest of the year, but it is not easy for the possibility to become a reality because most of them are already in fierce positions and the composition of the defense is also outlined to some extent.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.