[Sportschosun, Reporter Park A-ram] Former footballer Kim Young-kwang strongly criticized South Korea national football team head coach Hong Myung-bo's game management.
South Korea lost 1-0 to South Africa in the third match of Group A at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on the 25th at Estadio Monterrey in Mexico.
That day, Kim Young-kwang was speaking with fans during a live broadcast on the channel "Na Kim Young-kwang-i-yo" when a viewer asked, "What do you think?" He replied, "It's entirely the coach's responsibility. That's certain."
He went on to say, "The problem started with the best lineup. Then he should have considered variables when making substitutions. He should have thought about the possibility that a defender could get injured. But he missed all of that. It went wrong from the start."
In particular, Kim Young-kwang pointed to Son Heung-min's omission from the starting lineup and criticized, "Why did he suddenly get caught up in a great coach complex and not even use Heung-min in the best lineup? I really don't understand. I'm genuinely curious why he left him out. Why wasn't that explained in the interview? In the end, he just didn't want to play Son Heung-min for the full 90 minutes."
Former footballer Lee Bum-young, who was watching, also expressed agreement, saying, "Didn't that almost never happen in the warm-up matches?"
Meanwhile, South Korea ended its final group-stage match on a disappointing note after the loss.
tokkig@sportschosun.com
