Hong Myung-bo's time to wake Son up and make Hwang In-beom 100% to catch Jordan
Hong Myung-bo's time to wake Son up and make Hwang In-beom 100% to catch Jordan
Blog Article
The expansion of World Cup qualifications due to the upward leveling of Asian soccer is leading to a change in the attitude of challenging top teams.
Of course, there are exceptions. Japan has been aiming for the world for a long time and many European players are said to have improved its power evenly. In the seventh Group C match of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Bahrain on the 20th, Kudo Takefusa (Real Sociedad), who is well known as the best friend of Kamada Daichi (Crystal Palace) and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), won 2-0 and became the first in the world to confirm their advance to the finals regardless of the results of the remaining three games.
Relatively, South Korea ranks first in Group B with 15 points after a 1-1 draw against Oman, but critics point out that it is an uneasy race. Central defender Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) failed to join due to an Achilles injury, and Lee Kang-in and Baek Seung-ho (Birmingham City) left the match due to injury. The spine line was shaken significantly by the addition of Jung Seung-hyun (Al Wasl), who was injured during training.
The match against Jordan, which is scheduled at the Suwon World Cup Stadium on Saturday, could be a watershed moment in the fight for No. 1. Jordan came to Korea after beating the Palestinians 3-1. The Jordanian team is tied with Iraq with 12 points, but the team is second in goal difference. As the team seeks direct competition with each other, Jordan is united in its commitment to win against Korea, and Iraq is clearly motivated to win against the Palestinians.
Jordan has already tied South Korea 2-2 in the group stage of the Qatar Asian Cup last year and won 2-0 in the semifinals, putting a sense that it is not a difficult team. Although it lost 0-2 to South Korea at home in October last year, it was deeply regrettable that some of its main players were missing.
In past matches, Jordan has dominated the game with four wins, three draws and one loss, but most matches involved one goal. This shows how much Jordan can play. Central defender Yazan Al-Arab (FC Seoul) plays in the K-League to understand the temperament of Korean players, while Moussa Al-Tamari (Stade Ren), who is armed with outstanding physical strength and speed, also possesses the spirit of a goal against Palestine.
In the end, he has to rely on coach Hong Myung-bo's strategies and tactics. Hong assumed the national team's leadership last year after going through twists and turns. The reason he was not trusted 100 percent is because of the butterfly effect due to the defeat in the match against Jordan. He was appointed after going through the dismissal of coach Jurgen Klinsmann, and the disruption of the national team's power enhancement committee under interim coach Hwang Sun-hong and Kim Do-hoon.
It is difficult to know what coach Hong's strategy is with a lot of experience. This is even more so in that he has decided to use it within the number of people who are not selecting replacements for Lee Kang-in, Baek Seung-ho and Jung Seung-hyun.
Coach Hong hinted that Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord), who had played the match against Oman, can play as a central midfielder. However, it is meaningless unless he is in 100 percent physical condition. In the semifinals of the Asian Cup, Hwang In-beom could not block Al Tamari's flashy individual skills and fell like a fallow. 안전놀이터
While the match against Oman took only one day of training as a whole, Hong also expects that the match against Jordan will be completed for three days. The training session on Monday was closed to the public after 20 minutes, while the session on Tuesday will be closed to the public. The move is apparently aimed at enhancing internal concentration.