South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo [Yonhap]
South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo [Yonhap]

South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo said he has yet to identify the cause of his team's poor performance in their World Cup group-stage loss to South Africa.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday (local time), the day after the South Africa match, Hong was asked why the team's performance had dropped so sharply. "Honestly, we are a little bewildered ourselves as to why this suddenly happened," he said, adding, "We haven't been able to easily find an answer."

Hong offered several possible factors. "In terms of the game itself, we lost the ball in central areas the way the opponent intended and then got caught on the counter, which must have caused some confusion," he said. "I also think the players were trying too hard and had a very strong desire to win and settle things. On top of that, playing in the sudden heat may have thrown them off."

When asked whether he sensed that the players were not running hard enough, Hong said, "Being inside with them, I haven't felt that." He added, "If that is what it looks like from the outside, I think we will need to look into the situation."

On whether there was internal conflict within the squad, Hong drew a line. "There is absolutely nothing wrong within the team," he said. "I think this is the first World Cup I've been to where things have been this calm, inside and out. When I went to the 2014 World Cup, it was about 50 times harder than this."

South Korea lost 1-0 to South Africa on Wednesday in their final Group A match at the North America World Cup.

The result left the team with one win and two losses, finishing third in the group and putting their round-of-32 berth in doubt.

Beyond the result, the players' performance was starkly worse than in the earlier matches against the Czech Republic and Mexico, prompting one reporter to ask whether the squad had suffered a bout of food poisoning.


paq@heraldcorp.com