Hong Myung-bo in Crisis Goes Beyond 'Badly' Jordan in front of a packed audience
Hong Myung-bo in Crisis Goes Beyond 'Badly' Jordan in front of a packed audience
Blog Article
Will the shaky Hong Myung-bo team be able to take a step closer to the World Cup finals at the expense of "bad luck" Jordan.
The national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play its eighth Group B match against Jordan at Suwon World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. on the 25th in the third qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA North-China World Cup in Asia.
South Korea was initially able to win a ticket to the finals regardless of the results of the two games in June if it caught both A matches in March.
However, the plan was twisted as the match against Oman, which was held at Goyang Stadium on the 20th, ended in a 1-1 draw. Jordan, chasing South Korea, beat Palestine 3-1, and Iraq scored a dramatic 2-2 draw with Kuwait.
Group B, which has three games left per team, has narrowed the gap between the top ranks of Korea (15 points), Jordan, second, and Iraq, third (more than 12 points).
If South Korea loses to Jordan and Iraq wins to Palestine on the same day, it will fall to third place. Considering that the ticket to the finals will be given to the second place, the 9·10th game in June is very burdensome.
It is an important match that must be won, but the situation is not very good.
While Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), the pillar of defense, was already out due to injury, Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Baek Seung-ho (Birmingham), and Jung Seung-hyun (Alwaseul) were also excluded due to injury after the match against Oman. Hwang Hee-chan (Feyenoord) is not able to play full time, and Jo Hyeon-woo (Ulsan), the goalie, is still wearing a mask. Bad news overlapped.
The team is also facing tough challenges. Jordan is the most challenging team in Group B.
In its matches with Jordan, Korea leads the team with four wins, three draws and one loss out of eight games. However, that one loss has happened recently.
In February last year, Korea met Jordan in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, but the team had a humiliating 0-2 loss. It was such a poor game that Korea did not even have a single shot on goal.
Afterwards, he won 2-0 in the third qualifying round for the World Cup, and paid off his debt to some extent, but his trauma still lingers. He needs to cut off his bad performance at home.
They are being chased, but they don't have to be intimidated. Despite the absence of main players, Korea is still ahead in objective power and weight of the team.
Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), who is considered the best player in Asia, fired penetration and shot despite fatigue of long flight in the match against Oman. Expectations are high on Team Jordan, which has completed jet lag.
If Son Heung-min plays in the match against Jordan, he and Lee Woon-jae will tie for third place (133 games) in the most appearances in the A-match history, making it a more meaningful condition.
Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), who suffered an injury in the first half in the match against Jordan in October last year, is also preparing for the upcoming match. Hwang Hee-chan also has a good sense of goal by 안전놀이터 scoring the first goal in the match against Oman.
In addition, young players with good momentum recently, such as Yang Hyun-joon (Celtic), Oh Hyun-kyu (Henk), Bae Joon-ho (Stoke), and Yang Min-hyuk (Queens Park Rangers), have the ability to hit a shot at any time.
Jordan's key figures include striker Moussa Altamari (Stadren), who plays on the French stage with Lee Kang-in, and defender Yazan Al-Rab (Seoul), who plays in the K League and knows Korean players well.