Failure in Group A introduced fan anger to boiling level.
It began with a promising 2-1 win over the Czech Republic however then a group containing Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in of Paris St-Germain and Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae misplaced 1-0 to Mexico. It left the Taeguk Warriors needing some extent in opposition to South Africa to safe second.
Hong, who additionally led the group to a group-stage exit on the 2014 World Cup, left captain and talisman Son on the bench and the group slumped to defeat, with former Tottenham Hotspur defender Lee Younger-pyo describing it on tv as “the worst match by a Korean soccer group within the twenty first century”.
After the sport, a reporter requested Hong if there had been an outbreak of meals poisoning within the camp or one thing related, as there could possibly be no clarification for such a efficiency. To make issues worse, South Korea needed to wait greater than three days of their coaching camp to find whether or not they would squeeze by means of into the final 32 as top-of-the-line third-placed finishers or go dwelling.
The camp had not been an particularly pleased place as earlier in June, media personnel had been overheard on digital camera mocking Son’s navy document. The previous Tottenham star gained exemption from the nation’s 21-month obligatory navy service by being a part of the group that took gold on the 2018 Asian Video games. In return, the gamers boycotted home media duties for a lot of days.
Son turns 34 in July and it could not be a shock if he quickly calls time on his worldwide profession. There might be no public return to South Korea because the welcome ceremony deliberate at Incheon Worldwide Airport was cancelled. The captain and the gamers have, nonetheless, escaped a lot of the public ire with the give attention to how the game is ruled within the nation.
