'Was there a Korean food poisoning incident?' Even the post-match press conference questions highlighted how disastrous Hong Myung-bo's team performance was.

*This content was translated by AI.

The South Korean national football team failed to secure a spot in the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup round of 32. They lost 0-1 to South Africa, ranked 60th in the FIFA rankings, missing the scenario where a draw would have been enough to advance to the round of 32. The frustrating performance against South Africa, considered the weakest team in the group, carried over fully into the post-match press conference.

The South Korean national football team, led by coach Hong Myung-bo, lost 0-1 to South Africa in the final Group A match of the tournament held at the Monterrey Stadium on the 25th (Korea time). Although the FIFA ranking was 35 levels higher for Korea, the gap in player strength, and the scenario where a draw would have secured second place in the group—all indicators favored Korea—they failed to seize the opportunity.

On this day, South Korea led in ball possession at 60%-33% (7% contested), but was actually at a disadvantage in shots, 8-13. In the first half, goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu (FC Tokyo) made crucial saves, narrowly avoiding an early goal, but the frustrating performance throughout the match led to conceding the first goal in the 18th minute of the second half. Even in a situation where a goal was absolutely necessary, South Korea's offense could not continue effectively.

Due to the team's performance dropping so sharply, a reporter's question even arose during the post-match press conference: "Was there a pre-match food poisoning incident or some other force majeure factor?" The question implied that without such factors, the performance was hard to understand. In response, Coach Hong Myung-bo said, "The match content was not good, but there was absolutely no such issue within the team. I do not want to attribute the reason to such things," and added, "It is true that we played our worst match among the three World Cup games."

When asked about the reasons for the "disastrous match" he himself admitted, Coach Hong Myung-bo replied, "The result on such a big stage is the coach's responsibility. In the end, everything was my judgment and decision. Since I judged and decided wrongly, the result was not good. There is nothing more or less to it."

A question was also raised about whether the opponent was properly analyzed tactically. Coach Hong said, "Of course, we did the analysis," but added, "Compared to the matches we have played so far, there were many mistakes in the center today. As a result, the players lost confidence. If we had played more on the sides, we could have controlled the opponent's dangerous counter-attacks they had prepared, but it was not as good as the previous match."

With this defeat, South Korea dropped to third place in the group and now faces a situation where it must compete for a spot in the finals, which goes to the top eight teams among the 12 third-place teams. The final matches of other groups will be held over three days starting from the 26th, with three groups each day.

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*This content was translated by AI.