South Korea’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage remain uncertain after a disappointing end to their Group A campaign. A defeat to South Africa left the Taeguk Warriors third in the standings with three points, forcing them to wait for results from other groups to determine whether they can progress as one of the best third-placed teams. The outcome has sparked growing criticism of the team’s performances throughout the tournament.
Hong Myung-bo’s side opened the competition with a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic before suffering narrow defeats to Mexico and South Africa. Those results prevented South Korea from securing automatic qualification and exposed several recurring weaknesses. Much of the criticism has focused on the team’s lack of attacking consistency.
Former Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung was among those to question South Korea’s approach. Speaking after the final group match, he said the national team never showed a clear attacking identity across the three fixtures. In his view, the same tactical problems remained unresolved from the opening game until the end of the group stage.
“We need to ask whether we were truly playing to win,” Park told Chosun. “It wasn’t clear how we intended to attack, and that’s the most disappointing part. The same issues continued from the first match through to the third.”
Park pointed to South Korea’s second-half performance against South Africa as an example of the team’s lack of urgency. Despite trailing 1-0, he noted that too few players attacked the penalty area whenever crosses were delivered. Instead, several defenders continued to remain deep while the team searched for an equalizer.
“If you’re behind, there should be three or four players attacking the box when crosses come in,” he said. “Our opponents packed the penalty area with defenders, yet we still had too many players staying back. We needed to be much more aggressive.”
The former captain also argued that Hong should have adjusted his tactics much earlier in the match. He suggested pushing a central defender forward to support Cho Gue-sung and create more aerial opportunities. According to Park, South Korea persisted with an ineffective passing approach for too long.
Park also compared the current campaign with South Korea’s disappointing 2014 FIFA World Cup, saying the national team appears to have repeated mistakes that should have been avoided. He warned that even if South Korea reaches the Round of 32, the performances shown in the group stage raise serious questions about the team’s direction under its current leadership.
