이 기상과 이 맘으로 충성을 다하여 괴로우나 즐거우나 나라 사랑하세. There's a reason why Koreans have my respect. This stanza of the sacred anthem is my favorite. Even just the sounds in the words are powerful. In 4 years, Son will be Ivan Perišić's age. He'll still be deadly, if he keeps himself fit. And he can. Srna was the fastest player at Euro 2016, at age 34. You guys have a dangerous target man, now. Big, big asset. Might not be the best fit for possession football, but I believe sticking to one style is harmful. Variation in attacking options if key. A target man requires good set piece takers to take advantage of. Kanginissimo (My own idea of a good nickname?) could become that, and then fast wingers become even more useful. Imagine the horror of a defense, no matter how good, when they know the ball is in a zone where a shot or a cross are going to cause damage. A fit Monster will be leading the defense. There will be new players, but he'll be the cornerstone. Let's see which young players step up... 대한민국 만세!
Tough luck. Big respect to Korea for not giving up and still competing in the second half, crowned with that beautiful goal. Here's hoping that Korea can continue its very promising path!
Korea fans, it was a great tournament for you - your team provided fans with some awesome moments. I was expecting the Korean defense seen vs. Portugal and never did I think it'd be a 3 or 4-goal margin of victory. Keep your heads up high. Remember that every World Cup marks the end of an era and the beginning of another. I am not familiar with your team's current generational transitioning re: younger vs. older players, but you'll be back in the very same country - Qatar - for the 2023 Asian Cup. I hope you guys do well then!
I really don't get the Bento criticism that's going around with some people. Tactically I thought he made a mistake with player selection and formation, but our players were literally on fumes so I understand that it wasn't an easy decision for him either. It's also not his fault for our players losing focus/concentration that lead to us conceding 4 goals, our players were simply spent. Leading a gimp team full of injuries and lack of form all the way to the Round of 16 is no easy feet by any means, so regardless of the loss today, he deserves a proper farewell send off once they return back home. Our players fought well till the end which is something we haven't seen the past 8 years or so (Aside from our win vs Germany), even when down by 4 goals, they fought while playing on fumes and managed to score a consolation goal. At times like this, you gotta forget about the scoreline and just keep fighting till the final whistle, so hats off to them for that.
By the way, it's the first time I am not witnessing Sonny cry. It's refreshing to see him keep his head up high despite the loss, and I hope he can continue to do that from here on out.
Hwang In Beom had realistic thoughts about the future of the KNT. He thinks the team didn't have enough time to recover for this match and was still feeling fatigued from the Portugal win and continued on to say that we should be developing our football so that we don't need to rely on miracles and would rather see a team that stands toe to toe with other nations so that we can win comfortably instead. He adds that we need to take multiple drastic steps in order to improve Korean football but unsure of what needs to be done. He thinks although we exited at the same stage as Japan, that KNT is behind them in development. Japan has many players abroad and he thinks Korean players are unfairly criticized for not going abroad and that the problems are not from lack of trying but other factors.
Time go back home and prepare for next year/the future. Yang Hyun-jun, Oh Hyeon-gyu, Cho Gue-sung, Lee Kang-in, Paik Seung-ho, Hong Hyeon-seok, Jeong Woo-young, hopefully Joo Min-kyu etc. I'm stoked about our team, but I wish we had better fb options.
KNT core looking ahead to 2026? Based on only watching the games at this WC and none of the friendlies leading up to this 1. SHM - should still be dangerous even if older and slower in 2026 2. LKI - this kid straight up doesn't have any typical "Korean" vibes and that's a good thing, he's gonna be the heart and soul of KNT eventually 3. HHC - stick him on a wing 4. CGS - good physicality and at least competitive in the air (rare for Koreans?) 5. HIB - really liked his energy and confidence on the ball, excited to see if he can improve 6. KMJ - best defender by a lot I don't think we had a starting lineup that featured SHM, LKI, HHC and CGS all at once yet. I see LKI / HIB attacking midfield axis being something to build around, just need that third defensive mid to gel it together (please find someone better than JWY) As always KNT weakness defensively is hardest to address, hopefully KMJ finds a reliable partner and our fullbacks can actually defend or *gasp* dribble past someone on occasion.
Wish we had a GK like Livakovic, dude was a monster vs Japan and came up huge by denying three penalties. I envy your team @Testator.
Think one of the most intelligent players we have provides a very good assessment. Domestic players have a distinct style which is hammered into them by playing in microcosm.
He made mistakes during friendlies but it seems that he corrected them for the WC. A savy midfielder like him should continue to progress as a better player, his wonder goal is definitely top 10 WC goal material.
It was a good tournament overall, for Korea. Sucks to be so outclassed, but Kim Jinsu's defensive liabilities were exposed over and over. A better LB would have made a world of a difference in several of the games. Son was denied by great GK play. I think Korea could have had 3 goals on a different day. Brazil did take the foot off the gas, however. The soft pen conceded killed any chance. Not sure what a defender is supposed to do there. He's just trying to clear the ball. Anyway...we move. I wouldn't be devastated if Brazil won the whole thing. At least you lost to the champ.
After the (in my opinion) fair World Cup run, what does everyone think is our best XI? Mine: -----CGS SHM-LKI-HHC ---JWY--HIB HC-KYG-KMJ-KMH ---------KSG We desperately need a good CDM and fullbacks. If we had Europe quality players in these positions we'd really do well. I think Kim Tae Hwan was pretty good this World Cup. I don't rate Son Jun Ho. Also Hong Hyun Seok is one that might blow up in the next few years... Still unclear what his true position is (seems like CAM/Wings but with ++defensive contribution) but he's currently top 10 rated players in Belgian Pro League as per Sofascore. The difference between us and Japan is that imo, our first XI is on par or even better, but we have no depth - especially defensively.
Big props to this squad for showing so much heart and pulling through into the Round of 16. I personally think that the players deserve the absolute lion's share of the credit for the results. They have more quality than they are given credit for and they were so determined this tourney. Can't ask for anything more from them. I do hope that some lessons have been learned from this tourney. Moral victories are great, but there's really no shame at all in playing pragmatically. I was disappointed to see the team's strategy essentially unchanged against Brazil, playing open football against the tournament favorites. As the old proverb goes, you have to know yourself and know your enemy. Bento was a true professional and a great leader, but he was ultimately too rigid and frankly too naive in his vision for this team. We would've lost by 6 or more goals today if Brazil didn't take their foot off the pedal in the 2nd half. Parking the bus and looking for the counter has worked time and time again in football. There's no doubt that it's the best strategy for a highly outclassed side, and there's absolutely no shame in it. It's just puzzling to me why this was never an option for this team after the 2-1 against Germany, after Saudi and Japan's wins this tournament, etc. Naivety is probably why. I think that the biggest overarching issue of Korean football - and Korean sports in general - is the lack of intelligence, innovation, and pragmatism at the top administrative and managerial levels, and for me this tournament was another example of that. Much respect to the players for playing their hearts out and demonstrating their quality. They deserve all of the credit.
KJS was poor but he should've never been asked to play that role for this team in the first place. He had way too much on his plate both offensively and defensively. There was no chance he was going to survive against World Cup opposition given everything he was tasked to do.
(1) For more European based players from Japan: -Well the biggest factor in terms of less European based factors is the military service component in Korea since you'd have to come back to Korea by 27/28 to play for Sangmu if exemption can't be obtained (need 6 months in K-League before going to Sangmu). -I'm guessing you don't see the NT level Japanese players in the CSL/ME since the J-League pays more than the K-League for those that have potential to be picked for the respective national teams. Enough money for Japanese players not to go to CSL or the M.E. leagues I suppose. In addition, there's a better safety net if things don't work out in Europe so more likely to take on the challenge of playing in Europe. Somewhat related to the first point as well (18months of lost income in military for Korean soccer players) so not as much pressure for financial reasons from that standpoint as well. (2) For youth development and the state of soccer in Japan - The JFA had plans since the J-League was implement in 1993. They had like a 100 year plan (ie long term). KFA hasn't been so visionary. At least historically. -Bigger extracurricular club culture in Japanese schools than Korea. It's compulsary. Not just sports but other extracurricular activities like music as well. So much more registered soccer players, much more schools that have soccer teams and sports teams(e.g. baseball) in general. Of course there's a big range in quality of teams since many kids and many school teams are not "elite" level and just social/extracurricular. But easier to spot diamonds in the rough or those with potential etc.
I mean disrespect I just believe Brazil will the whole damn thing. They are to good. But everything can happen.
pretty depressed but all in all a heroic performance from our boys this world cup. JWY, KJS, HIB all taken off after subpar showings - not surprising considering they had played every minute in the group stage. Bento’s replacement is going to decide the future of KNT - will we build on being a side that goes toe to toe with European/South American sides or regress to being a mid and meek team?
Parking the bus wasn't going to work even if we tried, our players were far too spent since they fought their asses off vs Portugal, they were physically and mentally exhausted. On top of that, we only had 2 days of rest thanks to the horrid WC schedule.