South Korea on the brink of being eliminated from the 2026 World Cup: Pay dearly to back up Son Heung-min

Son Heung-min is on the bench, South Korea lost to South Africa in the last match of Group A of the 2026 World Cup (Instagram/@thekfa).

JAKARTA - South Korea National Team (Timnas) coach Hong Myung-bo made the boldest bet when his team fought for a ticket to the 2026 World Cup knockout stage.

When facing South Africa in the last Group A match, Thursday, June 25, 2026, early morning WIB, Hong surprisingly did not include captain Son Heung-min in the starting lineup - the first time since the former Tottenham Hotspur player started his journey with the South Korean National Team.

The gamble backfired on them, as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to South Africa, which saw them move from the bottom of the group to second place - ensuring their first ever knockout appearance.

Meanwhile, South Korea will have to wait until the end of the group stage on Saturday, June 27, 2026, to find out whether they will also qualify as one of the three best third-ranked teams or not.

Seeing the result that made the Taeguk Warriors on the brink of the abyss, South Korean media did not hesitate to criticize Hong who seemed disappointed at the post-match press conference.

They threw the first two questions which contained not accepting the results, confusing games, and changes to the core player lineup were called failures.

Hong - perhaps with no other choice - must admit, in retrospect, he probably wouldn't have made that big a decision if he could do it over.

"In terms of the process and preparation for this match, and how we will play on the pitch, it is something I have thought about maturely."

"Of course, if we knew what the result would be, I would probably make a different choice. However, I have a strategy in mind."

"Every time a bad result like that happens, everyone has their own opinion. The result is really the head coach's responsibility. In the end, it's in my hands."

"I think I made the wrong decision and that's why we got a bad result. No more, no less," said the former South Korean captain, who led the team to the semi-finals at the 2002 World Cup during his playing days.

When asked further about the logic behind the decision to substitute Son Heung-min, Hong revealed that he hoped to include his main player when the opponent began to tire - which in fact he chose to start the second half to include the LAFC player.

"We think that Son will be in a better position (to make an impact) when the opponent starts to lose energy, not when they have a lot of energy."

"When there is more space to exploit between the opponent's defensive line, that's when we want Son to be in his best condition - when the opponent is a little weaker," said Hong.

Hong - who described the performance against South Africa as the worst game of the 2026 World Cup - was South Korea's captain when they failed to win any games at the 2014 edition - which remains their worst performance at the World Cup since 1998.