"Turning Regret into Momentum"... The Taegeuk Warriors Run Again

[Anchor]

Moving on to World Cup news. Our national team is putting yesterday's (June 19) disappointing loss behind them as they prepare for the final group stage match against South Africa. With the possibility of advancing to the Round of 32 still high, the team is determined to pour everything they have into the next game without losing confidence.

We go to Lee Jeong-Chan in Guadalajara for the report.

[Reporter]

Setting aside the disappointment of the one-goal loss, our players have started running again with vigorous applause.

Players who had relatively less playing time showed more energy, and Eom Ji-sung’s determination was particularly evident.

Eom came on as a substitute in the second half of yesterday's match and created the team's most threatening moment by delivering a sharp cross toward Cho Gue-sung.

[Eom Ji-sung/National Football Team Midfielder: Even in that short amount of time, the Ghana match (at the Qatar World Cup) seemed to cross my mind. I think it was just luck that I couldn't capitalize on the opportunity. If it had gone just a little bit to the side, it could have been a goal.]

Although Cho Gue-sung's header did not find the back of the net like it did four years ago in the Qatar tournament, the team plans to use this regret as fuel to run even harder in the match against South Africa.

[Eom Ji-sung/National Football Team Midfielder: It served as a great motivation for how I should approach the next game. Our confidence hasn't dropped, and I believe that if we players continue to work hard as we have been, we will get a good result.]

Expectations for the South Africa match are growing as the contributions of the "young blood"—including Eom Ji-sung, Yang Hyun-jun, and Oh Hyeon-gyu, who scored the comeback goal against the Czech Republic and is playing on the World Cup stage for the first time—continue to increase.

The players, who have been in training camp for over a month, plan to take a break from training tomorrow to spend time with their families and recharge.

There is no time or need to dwell on regrets.

Without overthinking, if we defeat South Africa, we can head to Los Angeles, where the Round of 32 will be held, with high spirits.

(Video coverage: Hwang In-seok, Video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.