"South Korea, 'Unique Strategy' Secures Victory Over El Salvador" — ESPN Also Highlights the 'Trick'

*This content was translated by AI.

The South Korean national football team defeated El Salvador 1-0 in their final friendly match ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America. Following a 5-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago, this marks their second consecutive win in the pre-camp matches in the United States. While the gap in team strength was significant, foreign media focused more on Hong Myung-bo's team's "trick" than on the match content or result.

ESPN Deportes, the Latin American edition of the global media outlet ESPN, reported on the 4th (Korea time): "South Korea's victory over El Salvador drew attention not only for the result but also for one unique aspect: the players took the field wearing jerseys with numbers different from their usual ones." The report added, "Son Heung-min (LAFC) also entered the field as a substitute in the second half, wearing jersey number 13 instead of his iconic number 7."

In fact, on this day, South Korean national team players took the field wearing unfamiliar numbers rather than the officially announced World Cup jersey numbers. Not only Son Heung-min, but Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) wore number 2 instead of 4, and Lee Jae-sung (Mainz 05) wore number 8 instead of 10. Cho Gue-sung (Midtjylland) wore number 14 instead of 9, and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) wore number 20 instead of 11. Previously, Hong Myung-bo's team also wore different jersey numbers in the match against Trinidad and Tobago.

With the World Cup approaching, team strength analysis has become intense among all teams. The intention was to create confusion among other teams analyzing South Korea. Of course, unlike the past, there are many opinions that this has little significance in recent times when information is easily accessible, but Coach Hong Myung-bo maintained the jersey number trick throughout the pre-camp training. ESPN reported, "South Korea already employed a strange strategy in the match against Trinidad and Tobago. They intentionally wore unfamiliar jersey numbers to disrupt the strength analysis by opposing analysts."

This is not the first time such a "jersey number trick" has appeared in the history of Korean football. Ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Coach Shin Tae-yong also utilized a similar trick. At that time, however, the jersey numbers of well-known players such as Son Heung-min and Ki Sung-yueng were maintained, while changes were made to the numbers of other players. The media stated, "Coach Shin Tae-yong previously revealed that he 'continuously changed jersey numbers to avoid revealing team strength and make it difficult to easily identify players.'" The report added, "Eight years later, the South Korean national football team has once again employed this clever trick ahead of the World Cup opening."

Meanwhile, on this day, South Korea defeated El Salvador 1-0 in a match held at BYU South Field Stadium in Utah, USA, with a decisive goal from a free kick by Lee Dong-gyeong (Ulsan HD). After completing about two weeks of pre-camp training in the United States, Hong Myung-bo's team will move to the "decisive battle ground," Mexico. The South Korean national team's World Cup group stage A schedule is as follows: against the Czech Republic on the 12th at 11 a.m., against Mexico on the 19th at 10 a.m., and against South Africa on the 25th at 10 a.m.

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*This content was translated by AI.