KOR
▲ South Korea national football team head coach Hong Myung-bo announces his resignation at Chivas Valle Verde near Guadalajara, Mexico, on the morning of June 28 (local time), following the team's elimination from the 2026 North and Central America World Cup group stage.
I truly never expected to be writing my final letter from Guadalajara like this. This morning, instead of a post-tournament review press conference, head coach Hong Myung-bo released a statement announcing his resignation, and the national team split into groups to rush home. On TV, the sound of the Round of 32 match between South Africa and Canada in Los Angeles was playing. "We should have been there..."
It reminds me of the 2014 Brazil World Cup. Back then, the anger of football fans was also directed at head coach Hong Myung-bo. As the intensity of the criticism reached its peak, the host nation, Brazil, suffered a crushing 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinals. This was the so-called "Mineirazo" tragedy. Seeing the "Samba Army," which had dreamed of winning the title, collapse so miserably against the "German Tank" was truly shocking. I was even afraid, wondering if any violent incidents might occur in a country so obsessed with football like Brazil.
However, what was even more shocking was the assessment given by former Brazilian national team player Juninho Paulista on the British public broadcaster BBC.
"It won't be easy to overcome this shock. Some players will never wear the Brazil jersey again. But it is wrong to criticize the players right now. We saw it on the pitch today. Germany taught us how to play a football match. We must learn from it. From the seven goals we conceded."
"We need to step back now and analyze what went wrong. We especially need to look at what is wrong with youth development and fix it."
After Juninho finished speaking calmly and composedly, the BBC reporter tried to wrap up the segment with words of consolation.
"You must be very heartbroken today. Thank you for your words."
That was when Juninho spoke up again instead of just saying goodbye.
"No. No. I love football. I have said it before. I said, 'I am a fan of German football.' So I am happy. Because this is the result that football wants. We need to be calm. And we need to carefully find out what the problem is with Brazilian football."
Back then, we were not as calm and prudent as Juninho. We dug into head coach Hong Myung-bo's personal life, criticized his work ethic, and mocked and insulted him by framing his team as "loyalty football." In the meantime, we let the time to properly examine the real problems of Korean football slip away.
It feels as if the nightmare from 12 years ago is repeating itself. Social media is rampant with all sorts of insults and threats. Influencers, celebrities, and even fellow football figures who played alongside Coach Hong and the current national team players are all rushing to escalate the level of criticism. Such "refreshing" insults might feel like they represent the angry public sentiment and scratch an itch for now. However, if we continue like this, we might repeat the same situation 12 years from now.
Politicians are, as usual, preparing for hearings and calling for fact-finding investigations. They talk about renewal, innovation, accountability, and reform, but I remember that when the stage was set, it was filled with humiliation, intimidation, threats, and shouting. Of course, the current anger can and must be a great driving force to fix the foundation of Korean football. However, I am reminded once again of Juninho's words from 12 years ago.
"We need now to sit back, see what's wrong with Brazil football which is something wrong. It is not because of this defeat. There's something wrong especially in the Academy, the way to play."
"We need to calmly look at what is wrong with our football from now on. It is not because we lost today. There is clearly something wrong with youth education and the way we play."
After Belgian football received the scorecard of being the first host nation to be eliminated in the group stage at Euro 2000, they focused solely on finding the problems for a full two years. The volume of youth football footage that the Belgian Football Association collected and analyzed at the time reached a staggering 1,600 hours. They developed policies based on this, and we must not forget that the result was the emergence of the "Golden Generation," including Kompany, Hazard, and De Bruyne.
June 28, 2026.
From Guadalajara, Lee Jung-chan
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
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