From Boos to Disaster: The Two-Year Tenure of the 'Hong Myung-bo Era'

[Anchor]

Hong Myung-bo, once a hero of the 2002 World Cup semifinal run, now faces the ignominy of being labeled the worst coach in the history of the South Korean national team. His appointment, which faced fierce backlash from the very beginning, has ended in disaster, making him the first South Korean manager to be eliminated in the World Cup group stage twice.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong looks back on the two years of the 'Hong Myung-bo era.'

[Reporter]

Two years ago, Coach Hong Myung-bo was met with boos instead of congratulations from the start.

There was intense criticism regarding the Korea Football Association's appointment process, which bypassed regulations and procedures, as well as Hong's decision to accept the national team job just two days after promising he would not leave his then-club, Ulsan.

[Hong Myung-bo, get out!]

[Hong Myung-bo (July 2024, then-Ulsan manager): I thought this could be the final challenge of my football life. I have abandoned myself. There is no 'me' anymore. There is only South Korean football.]

Although the team qualified for the World Cup, doubts continued to grow.

The team's performance dropped sharply as he experimented with a three-back formation instead of the four-back defense used during the qualifiers. In friendly matches last March, the team suffered consecutive listless defeats against fellow World Cup qualifiers Ivory Coast and Austria.

At the time, Coach Hong claimed he was preparing to diversify the tactics he would use in the tournament.

[Hong Myung-bo/National Team Manager (Last March): Regarding the 'three-back,' I clearly stated before starting that I know from experience that you can never succeed on the World Cup stage with just one tactic.]

However, once the tournament began, Coach Hong managed the games as if he knew only one tactic.

From the first match against the Czech Republic and the second against Mexico, to the match against South Africa where a comeback goal was desperate, he insisted on the three-back formation without ever deploying a four-back tactic to increase attacking numbers, ultimately inviting disaster.

When asked for the reason, he gave a different answer than he had before the tournament.

[Hong Myung-bo/National Team Manager (Two days ago): I don't think it's good for the squad to suddenly change what we have been doing all along.]

His response that he did not know why the team performed poorly added fuel to the public's anger.

[Hong Myung-bo/National Team Manager (Two days ago): (Regarding the poor performance against South Africa) It is true that I am a bit bewildered as to why this happened so suddenly. I don't think I have found a clear answer as to 'what it is' yet.]

Having failed in the 2014 Brazil tournament with one draw and two losses, Coach Hong became the first South Korean coach to be given a second chance. However, despite leading a so-called "golden generation" including Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in, and Kim Min-jae, and being placed in the easiest group in history, he has earned the dishonor of being the first manager in Korean football history to be eliminated in the group stage twice, as well as the manager with the most losses in the tournament.

Coach Hong, whose contract runs until January next year, is scheduled to announce his future plans at a press conference tomorrow morning.

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