The time for a showdown is approaching. “Hong Myung-bo’s 1st generation” is finally coming to the world.
Coach Hong Myung-bo, who returned as the head coach of the A national team for the first time in 10 years, will announce the Taegeuk Warriors who will play in two consecutive A matches in September at 11 a.m. on the 26th at the Seoul Shinmun-ro Football Center.
South Korea will play its 11th consecutive World Cup qualifying round. South Korea will play its first match against Palestine in the first round of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup at Seoul World Cup Stadium on March 5. It will then embark on an away match in the Middle East and play its second match against Oman at 11 p.m. on Saturday (Korea time) at the Sultan Qaboos Stadium in Muscat, Oman.
The third qualifying round is the final qualifying round. The first and second place in each group will win a ticket to directly advance to the World Cup finals. The Republic of Korea was in Group B along with Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, and Kuwait from the Middle East in the third qualifying round. 먹튀검증
The first step is important. The biggest interest is whether 18-year-old “High School Winger” Yang Min-hyuk (Gangwon), born in 2006, will join the team. Yang is a “holy tree.” A junior at high school, he took his first steps as a semi-professional player. He became the youngest player to participate, score points, and help the Gangwon team, and changed his contract to an official professional player in June.
He confirmed his transfer to Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League last month. He will play in Gangwon Province for the rest of the season before joining Tottenham in January next year.
Hong must pay attention. “The first K-League match that I visited after taking the helm of the A-team was the Gimcheon Sangmu-Kangwon FC match on Friday, in which Yang Min-hyuk played.
Yang was showing off his form at the peak. He had three goals and one assist in two matches before the game against Gimcheon. Yang scored an assist in front of Hong, living up to his name. Hong visited Gangwon for two consecutive weeks on Wednesday.
Yang Min-hyuk, who won the K-League Player of the Month award in July, said of the A-team, “It’s a dream and I want to go there,” but added, “I don’t have high expectations yet. If I continue to play in Gangwon Province, I think I will be able to go someday.”
Hong, who led Ulsan HD for three and a half years, knows the K-League better than anyone else. Besides Yang Min-hyuk, there is a possibility of a surprise recruitment among the K-League players.
The “big frame” of players in Europe remains the same. As soon as Hong was appointed as the head coach of the A-team, he went on a business trip to Europe to meet candidates for foreign coaching. He also met with Taegeuk Warriors in Europe. In London, the U.K., Hong communicated with Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur) as the “captain.” Hong already said he would trust Son as the captain and present the role he has played so far.
In Germany, he met with Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) and Lee Jae-seong (Mainz). Then, he went to Belgrade, Serbia, and met with Hwang In-beom of Tsurvena Zvezda, and Seol Young-woo, who moved to Ulsan in June as an apprentice. Although they did not meet in person, Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) are expected to join the team without exception.
If Son Heung-min and Yang Min-hyuk join together, they will be accompanied for the first time. The two met as “enemies” in a friendly match between Team K League and Tottenham on the 31st of last month.
Hong’s goal is to go beyond the Asian qualifiers to surpass the best record of the away World Cup in the round of 16. “It is time for the final preliminary round to begin. Korea’s best performance at an away World Cup is to advance to the round of 16. I will try my best to achieve a better result than the round of 16.”
Hong will convene the selected players on Sept. 2 and begin his first training session.
