'Humiliating harsh criticism': South Korea's football status plummets to historic lows... "Worse than 34th in World Cup," analysis by major U.S. publication

*This content was translated by AI.

It is humiliating. The South Korean national football team, which was eliminated powerlessly from the group stage of the 2026 FIFA North, Central America and Caribbean World Cup, received evaluations from foreign media that were even more dire than their actual results.

On the 7th (Korea time), the U.S. sports specialty outlet "The Athletic" released its own self-selected World Cup power ranking covering all 48 participating nations in this tournament.

In this ranking, South Korea suffered the humiliation of being rated 38th — four places lower than their actual final standing of 34th, which was the first time a 48-team format was used in the World Cup.

The outlet criticized South Korea, stating: "Although they started positively by defeating Czechia 2-1, they subsequently lost consecutively without scoring a single goal against Mexico and South Africa."

It further pointed out sharply: "As a result, they managed only three points with a goal difference of -1, failing to secure the 32nd-round tournament qualification spot reserved for the top eight third-place teams in their groups. This is an obvious regression compared to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, where they advanced to the knockout stage by overtaking Uruguay and Ghana."

The outlet also harshly criticized Son Heung-min (LAFC), the team's ace and captain: "He failed to exert influence on the game performance, struggled throughout, and ultimately suffered the indignity of being excluded from the starting lineup in the final group-stage match."

Originally, Hong Myung-bo's team was widely expected by numerous foreign media outlets, including the football statistics specialist "Opta," to comfortably advance through the group stage ahead of the tournament.

However, they failed to maintain the momentum from their 2-1 victory over Czechia in the opening match and suffered consecutive 0-1 defeats against Mexico and South Africa, collapsing with one win and two losses. Although Korea desperately calculated every possible scenario to reach the Round of 32 as a third-place team, results in other venues did not cooperate, leading to an early exit from the tournament.

Evaluations of the teams that faced South Korea in Group A varied. Mexico, which gained momentum by defeating South Korea, was ranked 12th. The outlet analyzed Mexico: "They had gone unbeaten in 10 consecutive World Cup matches at home until they suffered their first-ever defeat against England. They conceded no goals in this tournament until conceding back-to-back goals to Jude Bellingham. Despite gaining a numerical advantage after England's red card, numerous crosses proved futile, exposing the qualitative lack of their attacking line."

South Africa, which defeated South Korea in the final group-stage match and succeeded in advancing to the knockout stage for the first time in history, was ranked 32nd. The outlet stated: "Almost no one predicted South Africa would advance through the group stage after losing their opening match against Mexico. However, by reaching the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in history, they successfully concluded this tournament."

It further added: "Although they conceded a goal in stoppage time and were eliminated, leaving regrets, they nearly forced Canada, the host nation, into extra time or a penalty shootout."

Czechia, the only team South Korea had decisively defeated in their opening group-stage match, was ranked 41st. The outlet criticized Czechia: "They absolutely had to win against Mexico in the final group-stage match but suffered a crushing 0-3 defeat, ending their tournament on a sad note. Considering the determination they showed when advancing to the finals by defeating Ireland and Denmark in the European qualifiers play-offs, they managed only one point from their match against South Africa in this World Cup, finishing last in Group A and leaving behind great disappointment."

The eight teams that reached the quarterfinals were highly praised. France topped "The Athletic's" power ranking, while Spain, which defeated Portugal, was ranked second.

Following them, Lionel Messi's Argentina took third place, and England, which gained momentum by defeating Mexico, secured fourth. Morocco, which wrote new history for African football by reaching the quarterfinals for the second consecutive time in the World Cup, was ranked fifth. Norway, featuring monster striker Erling Haaland, came in sixth; Belgium, which caught host nation USA with a fierce upward surge, took seventh; and Colombia rounded out the top eight at eighth place.

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*This content was translated by AI.