Shin Moon-sun, a visiting professor in the Department of Sports Records Analysis at Myongji University's Graduate School of Records, Information and Science. [Yonhap]
Shin Moon-sun, a visiting professor in the Department of Sports Records Analysis at Myongji University's Graduate School of Records, Information and Science. [Yonhap]

Football commentator and Myongji University visiting professor Shin Moon-sun made no effort to hide his fury after the South Korean national team suffered a shocking defeat to South Africa.

Speaking on CBS Radio's "Park Jae-hong's One-on-One" on Thursday night, Shin said "Thursday's disaster was foreseeable" and launched a sharp attack on head coach Hong Myung-bo.

"The tactical weaknesses of the national team's three-back system are known to the entire world," he said. "South Africa's coach Bruce revealed at a press conference on Wednesday exactly how he planned to take Korea apart. He said, 'We are Africans' about playing in Monterrey where temperatures exceed 41 degrees Celsius, and made clear he had prepared tactically to exploit the wide spaces that Korea's three-back system gives up on both flanks."

"What shocked me even more was dropping Son Heung-min — putting him on the bench," Shin added. "That is not common sense."

Shin said that when Hong publicly signaled he would rotate three or four players, Son Heung-min and Lee Jae-sung would have known immediately they were being left out. "The moment those words came out, could Son Heung-min and Lee Jae-sung sleep soundly? Could they digest their food?" he said. "When you're a player and you know you won't be in the starting lineup, you instinctively sense it — you avoid the manager in the hallway, you don't make eye contact." He argued that Son and others knowing they had been dropped would have had a significant effect on the mood inside the squad.

"If I were Son Heung-min, I would have felt humiliated — wondering what my teammates and younger players must be thinking," Shin said, arguing that Hong's decision to sideline his ace was one of the reasons the team could not operate at full capacity.

On his YouTube channel "Shin Moon-sun's Gol-i-eyo," Shin was equally blunt. "I am genuinely furious," he said. "What did they prepare? What was the strategy? What was the tactical analysis of the opponent?"

"A manager has unlimited authority, but responsibility matters too," he added. "Hong Myung-bo said everything is his responsibility — the answer the public is waiting for is what responsibility he will actually take. That is for Hong Myung-bo to answer."

Shin also invoked the nightmare of the 2014 Brazil World Cup. "In 2014, Korean football produced its worst results, and the manager then was also Hong Myung-bo," he said. "Today has become a day that writes a new record of humiliation in World Cup history."

His criticism of the Korea Football Association was equally fierce. "Foreign coaches submitted applications — did that lead to a fair process?" he said. "Instead, Hong Myung-bo appeared out of nowhere, like someone popping out of a bakery. That is the laughable Korean way of doing things, and that is why the public is angry."

Shin did not view the episode as simply a loss on the pitch. "It seems they still do not understand why the Korean public has turned cold and looked away from Korean football," he said. "When things are run without realism or fairness, it is the public who delivers the verdict."

"Korean football is rotten all the way down to its trunk and roots," he said, firing a direct broadside at the entire football establishment. "Did they not know the brand value of football would fall this far?"

Shin closed by urging fundamental change. "We must first change the mindset that Korean football belongs to us — or to the Hyundai family," he said.

The South Korean national team, led by Hong Myung-bo, lost 1-0 to South Africa on Thursday (Korean Standard Time) in the final Group A match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Korea needed only a draw to secure a round-of-32 berth as group runners-up, but the defeat left them with one win and two losses — three points — and dropped them to third in Group A behind Mexico and South Africa. They must now wait on results from other groups.


min3654@heraldcorp.com