'Worst World Cup in History' Hong Myung-bo's Team, a Shameful Disaster That Will Remain in History... '32nd Out of 48 Nations' Was Impossible Even with Prayers [World Cup Issues]

*This content was translated by AI.

Despite clinging to the slim hope of a miracle as if begging for a chance, no miracle came. In the World Cup, where the threshold was lowered for the first time with a 48-nation format, South Korean football received a shameful record that will remain in history and ultimately faced a disastrous early exit.

The South Korean national football team, led by coach Hong Myung-bo, finished the group stage with one win and two losses (3 points) in Group A of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North, Central America and the Caribbean, placing third in the group. When they started on a high note with a 2-1 victory over Czechia in the first match, optimism prevailed that advancing from the group stage would be easy, given the tournament's unique feature allowing the top eight third-placed teams across all groups to catch the last train to the Round of 32.

Even the draw was historically favorable. Starting with avoiding the strongest nations in Pot 1 and drawing host Mexico, they were paired with Czechia and the weakest team, South Africa, seizing a golden opportunity to face all winnable opponents.

However, Hong Myung-bo's team threw away this gift from heaven. After losing 0-1 to Mexico, they suffered a crushing 0-1 defeat against South Africa in the final third match, a match that would have secured second place in the group and a spot in the Round of 32 with just a draw.

The price paid for a scoreless defeat, losing both practicality and results amid a lack of tactics and a collapse in both attack and defense, was horrific.

After blowing their own path to qualification, the desperate last-chance scenarios mocked Korean football until the final moment. Ecuador, Sweden, Paraguay, and Iran, among others, collected points in turn, pushing South Korea down. In the tiebreaker among third-placed teams, South Korea barely slipped to eighth place, the final threshold for advancement.

No reversal on the final day of the group stage. In the final match of Group L, the miracle South Korea had hoped for did not occur. For South Korea to survive, Ghana would have had to defeat Croatia, but Croatia's 2-1 victory over Ghana completely derailed this scenario. With Croatia (6 points) and Ghana (4 points) both surpassing South Korea, South Korea's probability of advancing to the Round of 32 plummeted to 17.84%, leaving them with no way out.

In the end, South Korea's last hope was cut off as Uzbekistan, already eliminated with two losses, suffered a stunning 3-1 comeback defeat against a motivated Congo DR in Group K, where a needle's-eye chance existed for Uzbekistan to defeat the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ultimately, without any upsets, they fell off the cliff, and Hong Myung-bo's North American journey ended with the worst possible finale: an early exit from the group stage. Even in the unprecedented opportunity of the first 48-nation World Cup, Korean football, characterized by tactical misjudgments and a powerless performance throughout, ended up retreating to the periphery of world football, leaving behind the most shameful milestone in history: finishing around 32nd out of 48 nations without even reaching the tournament stage.

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*This content was translated by AI.