Three Days of Agonizing Wait Ends in Heartbreak: South Korea Eliminated from World Cup Group Stage After 8 Years

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The South Korean national football team has ultimately failed to advance to the Round of 32 at the North and Central America World Cup. Following today's (June 28) match results, the team failed to secure a spot among the top eight third-place teams, marking their first group stage elimination in eight years.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the story.

[Reporter]

With only the top eight teams among the 12 third-place finishers advancing to the Round of 32, the national team, which had fallen to 8th place as of yesterday, was pushed to the brink, forced to wait for the final group stage results from Groups K, J, and L today.

Before the final matches, the team hoped for a loss by Group L's third-place team, Croatia, which sat in 7th place with one more goal scored than South Korea. However, Croatia won 2-1, dashing that first hope.

There remained a slim chance for a dramatic advancement if both third-place teams from Groups K and J finished with lower rankings than South Korea. But before the final match of Group J could even be played, South Korea's fate was sealed in Group K.

Uzbekistan needed to win or draw against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, after scoring the opening goal, Uzbekistan conceded three consecutive goals and suffered a 3-1 comeback defeat.

Ultimately, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had only one point before the final match, secured their spot in the Round of 32 with four points, and the South Korean team could not even hold onto 8th place.

After finishing the group stage with one win and two losses following a dismal 1-0 defeat against South Africa in their third group match on the 25th, South Korean football endured three days of agonizing uncertainty while waiting for other results, only to face the humiliation of failing to reach the Round of 32.

This marks the first time South Korea has been eliminated in the group stage since the 2018 Russia World Cup, eight years ago.

Head coach Hong Myung-bo has suffered a significant blow to his coaching career, as he has now failed to advance past the group stage in his second World Cup, following the 2014 tournament.

[Hong Myung-bo / National Football Team Head Coach: It seems we have ended up with the worst-case scenario among the possibilities we considered. Ultimately, that is the coach's responsibility.]

Team captain Son Heung-min also concluded his fourth World Cup with regret, failing to score a single goal throughout the tournament.

(Video reporting: Hwang In-seok, Video editing: Ha Seong-won)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.