'3rd Place Plunge into Crisis': Hong Myung-bo's Team Suffers Shocking First Goal Against South Africa... Defense Collapses → Worst Performance [Live from the World Cup]

*This content was translated by AI.

Hong Myung-bo's team, aiming to qualify for the Round of 16 on its own, ultimately conceded a shocking first goal to the weakest opponent, South Africa, and now faces a crisis of falling to third place in the group. The defense, which wavered throughout the match, eventually collapsed in an instant, and the team's performance has been so poor that even the tactical substitution of Son Heung-min (LAFC) could not change the tide.

The South Korean national football team, led by coach Hong Myung-bo, is playing the final Group A match of the 2026 FIFA North, Central America and Caribbean Cup qualifiers against South Africa at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Mexico, at 10 a.m. Korea time on the 25th. While a draw or better result is essential, the team has conceded a first goal in the second half and is trailing 0-1.

Ominous signs were present from the first half. South Korea was completely outplayed tactically. Unlike South Korea, which sat in second place in the group with one win and one loss (three points), South Africa, in last place with one draw and one loss (one point), needed a win at all costs. They pushed their defensive line higher and relentlessly exploited the spaces behind South Korea's defense.

South Korea fielded a 3-4-1-2 formation with Oh Hyun-kyu (Besiktas) and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton Wanderers) as the leading strikers, leaving captain and ace Son Heung-min on the bench, but failed to break through the attack. Starting with a near one-on-one chance conceded to South Africa's Mopoke in the fourth minute of the first half, the defensive line showed constant instability, such as Lee Ki-hyuk (Gangwon FC) diving to block a shot by Masiko in the 19th minute. After the midpoint of the first half, the defense and midfield were completely out of sync, allowing consecutive shots from Mbata and Makgopa due to a passing error by Lee Ki-hyuk, barely escaping a situation as dangerous as a goal.

As the frustrating flow continued, coach Hong Myung-bo immediately deployed a bold substitution card at the start of the second half. He brought on Son Heung-min, Jens Castrof (Borussia Mönchengladbach), and Kim Jin-gyu (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors) while taking off Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Tae-seok (Austria Wien), and Baek Seung-ho. Son Heung-min was positioned as a left attacker, while Castrof was deployed as a left defender to implement a tactical change.

However, even after the substitutions, the flow of the match did not change significantly. South Korea struggled immensely to break through South Africa's tight defensive wall, while South Africa continued to easily dismantle the spaces behind South Korea's defense with a single pass.

Eventually, the inevitable happened. In the 18th minute of the second half, defensive concentration collapsed like a domino effect, exposing space. Seizing the opportunity, South Africa's Masiko fired a sharp left-footed shot from the front of the arc that precisely found the far right corner of the South Korean goal. Goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu (FC Tokyo) dove and stretched out his hands, but it was not enough.

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*This content was translated by AI.