South Korea will compete in an 11th successive World Cup this summer, and reaching the last 32 of the tournament is considered a minimum requirement for the Asian nation. Nicknamed the Taegeuk Warriors, South Korea have not missed a tournament for more than 40 years, and that streak will continue when Son Heung-min and his teammates travel to North America.
They famously reached the semi-final at a home tournament in 2002 and managed to progress out of a group that included Portugal, Uruguay, and Ghana at the most recent World Cup in Qatar three-and-a-half years ago. While South Korea have not won the Asian Cup since 1960 and have never progressed past the last four at a World Cup, the nation is steeped in global football history, and their current squad features several elite footballers.
Tottenham legend and LAFC's Son Heung-min is the main man and poster boy of South Korean football, while Paris Saint-Germain's Lee Kang-in is considered one of their most important players. Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan, Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae, and Birmingham City midfielder Paik Seung-ho are among the other well-recognised stars set to represent South Korea this summer.
Group A Expectations
The Warriors go into Group A at this summer's World Cup and will kick off with a tie against Czechia on June 12, before facing Mexico on June 19 and South Africa on June 25. With the top two in each group gaining automatic qualification for the last 32 and the eight best third-place sides also progressing, it would be considered a failure if South Korea did not make it to the knockout phase. That is according to South Korean football expert Jason Lee, who has given his verdict on the nation's chances heading into the World Cup, which is due to start in Mexico on June 11.
"With this expanded World Cup, getting out of the group is the bare minimum and what we expect. Without disrespecting other opponents, on paper it is definitely the easiest group South Korea have ever had in a World Cup. Because of the format, there are more teams, so the level of talent is more diluted," Lee said. "I think success for me would be getting to the Round of 16, getting to that level again and hopefully playing a good game against maybe England or at least putting up a good fight and maybe getting to the quarter-final. Anything better than that would be incredible."
Managerial Concerns
While South Korean supporters expect the nation to progress from the group and even reach a Round of 16 tie, there is not much optimism around the team achieving that on the pitch. "Unfortunately the team is struggling right now, there is controversy surrounding the manager Hong Myung-bo, who was a 2002 legend," Lee added. "He was begged to take the job after Jurgen Klinsmann left the team, but the problem is he is simply not a good manager from a tactical perspective.
"The recent controversy is that his assistant manager went on Portuguese media and said he makes up all the tactics, formations, training sessions, and Myung-bo is there to be the leader. That was presented to the Korean media, and there was a whole storm after that. It is safe to say the Korean national team is not in a good place right now, but we have done it before—when it seems like we are struggling on paper, the tournament results have gone better than expected."
Myung-bo returned to manage the South Korea national team for a second spell in July 2024, after former boss and Germany legend Jurgen Klinsmann was sacked. The 57-year-old has since guided the Warriors to World Cup qualification, winning 12 of his 21 matches in charge. Despite this, Albert Kim, another South Korean football expert, is not convinced by Myung-bo's capabilities as a coach.
Kim said: "For a little perspective, Myung-bo has managed the national team once before at a World Cup in Brazil where we crashed out disastrously and got famously thumped 4-2 by Algeria. But he was our manager at the 2012 Olympics in London where we did win a bronze medal and did raise his stock as a manager. Before taking this job, he was the head of Ulsan HD where he did win multiple K-League titles, so he did have stock as a domestic manager. But the biggest problem is that the way he sets up his tactics is a very simple 4-2-3-1.
"Now he is playing a back three which makes no sense because most of our players do not play in this formation with their domestic teams. I like to call him the Korean version of Frank Lampard—he was a fantastic player but I do not think he deserves to be a manager, especially of the Korean national team. I think it is going to be a disaster."
Pessimistic Predictions
With this in mind, Kim has predicted South Korea to finish bottom of Group A and exit the World Cup at the first hurdle. He does not think they will win any of their three group matches at the tournament. "I had us finishing second initially, but I think we will finish last in our group," Kim continued. "I think the Czechs are a bad match-up for us—they score a lot of goals from set pieces. Mexico are at home in Guadalajara, it is very hard to beat a home nation, and they know it will be a hard game for them.
"Then on paper we should beat South Africa, but we will not play well against African opposition. I think that is the match where everything comes crashing down and the inquest into the KFA begins. I hope I am wrong, but I have zero faith in the current manager to get it done."
Lee is a little more optimistic but does not see South Korea progressing past the Round of 32. "I think we will limp out of the group in third and into the Round of 32 and have a big crash out in that match," he said. "It will hopefully be a big turning point where South Korean football can have a reset."
South Korea, who were knocked out in the Round of 16 at the most recent World Cup in Qatar, head into the tournament having lost both international friendlies against Ivory Coast and Austria in March. Their last win came back in November, when they scraped past Ghana 1-0.
