South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo sought to focus on his team’s preparations for next year’s World Cup rather than the fraught campaign that eventually ended with the country celebrating qualification for an 11th consecutive finals.
A 2-0 victory over Iraq in Basra on Thursday confirmed South Korea’s progress as one of two automatic qualifiers from Group B of Asia’s preliminaries, and came 11 months on from Hong’s controversial reappointment as head coach.
“It’s an opportunity for us to test young guys who may be able to play at the World Cup next year,” Hong said of Tuesday’s remaining qualifier against Kuwait in Seoul.
“We won’t have too many opportunities like this. It’s one thing for those guys to watch from the bench, and quite another for them to play.”
Ex-national team captain Hong returned for a second spell in charge in July last year after a series of caretakers had been appointed following Juergen Klinsmann’s underwhelming tenure, the German leaving in the aftermath of South Korea’s Asian Cup elimination.
The 56-year-old’s appointment was greeted by protests among hardcore fans, many mindful of the team’s performance under Hong at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, when a highly-fancied squad crashed out in the group phase.
Relations with supporters were further damaged by early struggles in qualifying, with players booed off the field in Seoul following an opening 0-0 draw with Palestine in September.
That showing was one of several that highlighted the team’s issues on native soil.
While Hong’s side are unbeaten across the nine matches played so far in the third phase of qualifying, the Koreans have won just one of four matches at home.
The poor quality of the pitches used was blamed by players for their underwhelming performances and was another reason tensions increased between the country’s football hierarchy and the support base.
Despite those issues, qualification means the Koreans will extend a run of unbroken World Cup appearances that stretches back to 1986, with Hong now charged with building his squad for the challenge that lies ahead in North America.
That will mean giving opportunities to less experienced performers as he looks for long-term options to stalwarts such as Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“From this moment on, everything we do will be geared toward preparing for the World Cup,” said Hong.
