South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo seeks reasons for World Cup group stage exit

ZAPOPAN, Mexico, June 25 (Yonhap) -- Some 24 hours after South Korea finished third in their group with a demoralizing loss at the FIFA World Cup, head coach Hong Myung-bo still couldn't pinpoint reasons behind his team's plight Thursday.

Hong instead doubled down on his mea culpa approach, saying it was his fault as head coach that his players failed to execute their game plans.

South Korea returned to their base camp in Zapopan, western Mexico, on Thursday, a day after losing to South Africa 1-0 in another Mexican city of Guadalupe. South Korea would have finished second in Group A and punched their ticket to the round of 32 with a win or a draw, but the 25th-ranked side got blanked by the 60th-ranked squad without putting up much of a fight.

South Korea, who previously beat Czechia 2-1 and lost to Mexico 1-0 in Zapopan, must now wait and see if they will end up as among the eight best third-place teams that will progress to the knockout stage. With Group E having completed their play Thursday and teams in Groups D and F to follow later, South Korea ranked fifth with three points and a goal difference of -1.

Before a training session at Chivas Verde Valle, Hong cited weather conditions in Guadaluple as a possible cause for South Korea's downfall.

They played their first two matches in cooler and drier conditions, but then had to deal with a more sweltering environment for the South Africa match.

"We weren't able to identify that many reasons (for the loss), but I think environmental factors created problems," Hong said. "Our data showed that the players didn't cover as much ground as they did in the Mexico match, but they had more instances of high-intensity sprints. In terms of their conditioning and fitness, there wasn't a noticeable difference from the Mexico game. It was difficult to find out why the players looked quite slow."

Although this wasn't a must-win contest for South Korea, Hong surmised his players were trying too hard to win it and qualify for the knockout stage in style.

"The combination of their mental state and scorching weather made things difficult for the team," Hong added.

The coach said he decided to place extra emphasis on preparing for the two matches in the high altitude of Zapopan. The strategy seemed to work in South Korea's favor when they rallied in the second half to beat a tired Czechia on June 11.

They held their own against the home team Mexico on June 18 in Zapopan, but a silly mistake in their own box, with goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu losing his grip on the ball after crashing into his own defender Lee Gi-hyuk, resulted in a narrow loss.

"Looking back, the outcome of the second match is quite disappointing. If we had picked up at least a point there, we would have been in a much better spot going into our third game," Hong said. "So we ended up in the worst possible scenario."

Addressing the prevailing criticism of South Korea's shoddy tactics, Hong said, "We prepare for dozens of scenarios that can emerge during a match but we also run into unexpected situations. The players are the ones that have to respond to them, but the head coach is responsible for everything."

Hong also came to the defense of his captain Son Heung-min, who has been held scoreless in all three matches of his fourth and possibly final World Cup.

Hong only played Son for only about an hour in each of the first two matches and then benched the veteran talisman at the start of the third game -- the first time in Son's World Cup career that he didn't get into a starting lineup.

Son played the entire second half against South Africa but ultimately didn't affect the outcome.

"I think Son Heung-min always does what he's supposed to do," Hong said. "It's tough for both the player and the team when he's only being evaluated on whether he scores or not."