"Think you've been fired as a director..." Hong Myung-bo-ho's sharp criticism of Hong Myung-bo Team.

*This content was translated by AI.

As Hong Myung-bo Team lost two consecutive games to Ivory Coast and Austria ahead of the 2026 FIFA 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup, sharp criticism is pouring in from inside and outside the soccer community. Critics are mainly criticizing the three-back tactics that coach Hong Myung-bo has not given up despite missing both performance and results.

The national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, lost 0-1 to Austria in a warm-up match held at Ernst Havel Stadium in Vienna, Austria on the 1st (Korea Standard Time). Hong Myung-bo Team, which suffered a crushing 0-4 defeat against Ivory Coast on the 28th of last month, finished its last warm-up match with all two losses before the announcement of the final entry for the World Cup. Coach Hong has maintained his three-back tactics, which have been put to the test since the World Cup qualifiers, in this two consecutive games, with both games losing scoreless.

Shortly after the broadcast of the match against Austria, Chang Ji-hyun, a commentator for Coupang Play, voiced strong criticism as if determined. "I think we should seriously start from the ground up, think that the coach has been replaced, and try to change until the end as if the new coach is making a new round," he said.

Later, commentator Jang Ji-hyun added on the YouTube channel One Two Punch, "I think we should finally judge whether the system fits our players well, although it's late."

Chang Ji-hyun, a member of the committee, said, "We have to think deeply about whether we are operating basic tactics to maximize the advantages of our players," adding, "Of course, we cannot say that even the current operation cannot produce results unconditionally." However, given the overall probability, it seems that if we enter the current system (the competition), we will not be able to achieve easy results. If so, I think we should change it in a different way no matter how late we are," he claimed.

"The current system feels like the system (of head coach Hong Myung-bo) is blocking players even if they want to express their strengths," Chang said. "We need to adjust," he said. "Of course, there will be director Hong Myung-bo's own philosophy, and it's not that it's wrong. However, in the case of club teams, when the manager is replaced in this situation and another manager comes, there are cases where the atmosphere rebounds when the change is made at the beginning to make a new game. "I think it's time to make a change with that feeling," he added.

Commentator Lee Keun-ho, a former member of the national team who also hosted the commentary, also said, "We played many games from the preliminary round (under coach Hong Myung-bo). As a result, the World Cup is less than three months away, he said. "And yet, the saddest reality is that we don't have ours." Although it is close to the World Cup, it means that Hong Myung-bo's tactical colors are not noticeable.

"We have to prepare for the World Cup because what can be called 'Plan A' (tactically) is complete, but I still feel like I'm looking for something," Lee Keun-ho said. "It was a little frustrating in that regard."

Shin Mun-seon, a soccer commentator and a professor at Myongji University's Graduate School of Records and Information Science, also said on his YouTube channel, "After the two warm-up matches, interviews with Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) or Seol Young-woo (Zrvena Zvezda) tell us that 'the three-back is unfamiliar,'" adding, "Our soccer (Hong Myung-bo Team) is fitting its clothes." You have to fit clothes on your body," he stressed.

"The best tactic is to maximize the strengths of the player and add the total of 11 players to give him greater power. That is the manager's resourcefulness and tactical point. "I'm a little disappointed about that," he said. "This World Cup will be a point in the history of Korean soccer. "What should I think about the people being disgusted with soccer and having a sense of betrayal of soccer?" he criticized.

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*This content was translated by AI.