The protection of Hong Myung-bo continues. The protesters continue to be confused by questions on pending issues in the National Assembly.
The South Korean national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will announce the October A match list for the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup at the soccer center in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 30th.
South Korea is scheduled to play the first and second rounds with Palestine and Oman on the 5th and 10th, followed by the third and fourth rounds with Jordan on October 10 and Iraq on the 15th.
Currently, Korea is ranking second in Group B after Jordan (score point 4) with one win and one draw. This third qualifying round is a shortcut to directly advance to the World Cup finals, and the six countries ranking first and second in each group (A-C) will head to the finals after the end of the 10th round.
The schedule for the third and fourth rounds is important. Team Hong Myung-bo will face off against Middle Eastern countries in all of the third and fourth rounds. Among them, Jordan and Iraq are the toughest teams in Group B. Jordan beat South Korea in the semifinals of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup held in January, and Iraq is emerging as a new dark horse as it gradually improves its skills since Jesus Casas was appointed as coach.
In September’s A-match, Jordan scored a 1-1 draw with Quit in the first round and a 3-1 win over the Palestinians in the second round, while Iraq scored a 1-0 win over Oman in the first round and a 0-0 draw with Kuwait in the second round.
The upcoming event will have a significant impact on ranking decisions. Korea, Jordan and Iraq all have one win and one draw. The team that scores in the third and fourth rounds can have a better position in the upcoming ranking competition.
However, the atmosphere of Hong Myung-bo is still cluttered. Since Hong Myung-bo took office in July, the voices of continuous criticism have not stopped.
Fans are still expressing anger at the suspicious coach selection process and process, and the Korea Football Association and Chairman Chung Mong-gyu gathered in silence.
In the meantime, questions about pending issues continued at the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 24th. The pending question, which started at 10 a.m., ended after 8 p.m., and Chairman Chung Mong-gyu, Director Hong Myung-bo, Technical Director Lee Im-saeng, former chairman of the Korea Power Reinforcement Committee, and Park Joo-ho, former members of the Korea Power Reinforcement Committee, attended as witnesses.
At that time, questions continued about the controversy over preferential treatment and the process of appointing the coach, which had been questioned, and Hong Myung-bo explained, “I don’t think it was bad to talk about what the people are curious about. Originally, I planned to check some players in Europe.”
Regarding the interview method, which was different from other foreign coach candidates, he said, “I don’t think it was unfair or given preferential treatment. It is my role to make our team really strong for the rest of the year,” adding, “If I wasn’t the top candidate for coach, I would have refused. Since I was the top candidate, I thought I should serve the national team one last time, not Ulsan HD.”
Since then, head coach Hong Myung-bo has started to check the K-League and watched the match between Gangwon FC and Daegu FC, FC Seoul and Suwon FC ahead of the announcement of the list.
Attention is focusing on the selection of new faces. In September, Coach Hong Myung-bo of the A-match selected four new players: Yang Min-hyuk, Hwang Moon-ki of Gangwon Province, Choi Woo-jin of Incheon United, and Lee Han-beom of Meat Willan. Except for Hwang, the three players will make their A-match debut next to each other. 스포츠토토
At the time, head coach Hong Myung-bo announced, “We plan to form a stable and future-oriented squad.” Attention is focusing on which players will join the A-match in October.
Currently, the position that is drawing the most attention is the front line. Both Oh Se-hoon and Joo Min-kyu failed to score a goal in the September A match. Meanwhile, Oh Hyun-kyu (Henk) and Lee Young-joon (Grathhofer) are showing off their respective teams quickly after their transfer. Attention is also focusing on whether the two players will be selected.