South Korea's football team now treated as a 'eliminated team'; 32-team bracket predictions repeatedly 'deleted'

*This content was translated by AI.

As the South Korean national football team's chances of advancing to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North, Central America and the Caribbean 32-team stage have significantly diminished, South Korea's name has begun to disappear from the 32nd-team bracket predictions of major statistical media outlets. It is now effectively being treated as an 'eliminated team.' This also signifies that the probability of reaching the 32nd-team stage has become extremely slim.

Football statistical media outlet OPTA, on the 27th (Korea time), immediately after the Group G third-round matches between Iran and Egypt, and Belgium and New Zealand concluded at Seattle Stadium in the United States, replaced South Korea with Algeria in its 32-team bracket prediction. Prior to the matches, the media outlet had predicted a bracket featuring a 32-team showdown between Egypt and South Korea. However, following the results of the final Group G match on this day, Belgium and Egypt swapped positions to finish first and second respectively, and changes occurred in the predicted 32-team teams advancing via third-place finishes, leading to changes in the predicted bracket. In this process, South Korea disappeared.

The Hong Myung-bo team had consistently appeared in the 32nd-team bracket predictions from before the tournament, even after the tournament began, and even after the direct path to the 32nd-team stage was dashed by finishing third in Group A. However, as the group stage matches progressed and South Korea's chances of advancing to the 32nd-team stage gradually diminished, the team was pushed to a situation where it could no longer be found even in the 32nd-team bracket predictions.

In fact, OPTA, immediately after Iran drew with Egypt on this day, saw South Korea's ranking among the third-place teams in each group drop by one more position, lowering South Korea's probability of advancing to the 32nd-team stage to 31.51%. This is the lowest probability assigned to South Korea throughout this tournament. Furthermore, among the 12 third-place teams in each group, South Korea ranks only 10th. The cutoff line for advancing to the 32nd-team stage is up to 8th place, but South Korea has fallen outside the ranking. The fact that South Korea has completely disappeared from the 32nd-team bracket prediction is in the same context.

It is not just OPTA. Another statistical specialist company, Football Mitz Data (FMD), also erased South Korea from its 32-team bracket prediction on this day. Instead, teams such as Iran, Algeria, and Croatia took their places in the 32nd-team bracket. Among the third-place teams in each group, the teams whose names disappeared were Scotland, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Korea, in addition to Uruguay, whose elimination was already confirmed.

South Korea, which recorded 3 points (1 win, 2 losses) and a goal difference of -1 (2 goals scored, 3 conceded) in Group A of the group stage, has fallen to 8th place among the 12 third-place teams in each group as of the 27th. If two of the three groups playing on the 28th achieve better results than South Korea, South Korea will be eliminated from the group stage and head home. Currently, only Scotland and Uruguay have better results than South Korea.

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*This content was translated by AI.