Hong Myung-bo, head coach of the South Korean national soccer team, visited the Seoul World Cup Stadium a day before the list was announced.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) will announce the list of national soccer teams participating in the ‘2026 FIFA North-China World Cup Asia Regional Qualifiers’ to be held in October at 11 a.m. on the 30th at the Korea Football Center.
The Korean national soccer team is facing a crisis right now. After taking the helm of the team Hong in July, the team faced various criticisms, but retained its position to play in the final preliminary round for the Asian region for the North China-U.S. World Cup. The result was disappointing. Korea tied the first match with Palestine 0-0, and secured a new 3-1 victory with Son Heung-min’s one-man show at the match against Oman.
To make matters worse, the atmosphere of the national soccer team is chaotic. Coach Hong attended a question-and-answer session with the KFA at the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 24th and was asked whether his appointment process was fair.
After attending the National Assembly, Hong started inspecting domestic players. Hong watched the match between Gangwon FC and Daegu FC in the “Hana Bank K League 1 2024” held at Gangneung Stadium on Friday and the match between FC Seoul and Suwon FC on Sunday.
Attention is focusing on whether “New Face” will appear during this A-match period. Coach Hong first selected a total of four players during the A-match period in September, including Lee Han-beom, Choi Woo-jin, Hwang Moon-ki and Yang Min-hyuk. Among them, Hwang Mun-ki made his A-match debut against Palestine.
In the match between Seoul and Suwon FC, Choi Joon and Kim Joo-sung are drawing attention. Choi wore the Seoul uniform ahead of this season. After joining Seoul, Choi took the main right-back position. He showed stable defense and build-up ability, and recently played as a three-line midfielder.
Kim Joo-sung is Seoul’s proud left-footed center back. He is called the successor of Kim Young-kwon. A native of Seoul’s Sunggol Youth, Kim Ju-sung has been steadily guarding the back of Seoul since his professional debut in 2019. Like a left-footed center back, he leads the build-up and shows perfect chemistry after joining the Yazan. 스포츠토토
If both players join the team, they will not be the first to be selected. Choi Jun was selected for the senior national team for the first time under interim coach Kim Do-hoon in May. Unfortunately, he failed to make his A-match debut. After being selected for the first time under Bento, Kim Joo-sung also made the final roster for the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup.
Hong seems to have visited the Seoul World Cup Stadium to watch the two players. Choi Joon and Kim Ju-seong played full-time in front of Hong, leading Seoul to a 1-0 victory, and giving the “green light” to Hong’s aboard.