South Korean fans dismayed by national team’s performance at the World Cup, head coach receives criticism
Following South Korea’s surprise 1-0 loss to South Africa on Wednesday (24 June), netizens expressed their frustrations with the national team online.
The usually quiet r/korea subreddit came to life with many enraged by the lack of spark in the team’s performance at the World Cup thus far.
In a thread posted on 25 June, one netizen labelled the team a “national embarrassment”. The thread quickly drew similarly upset fans who put their frustrations in writing, with over 460 comments.
Most recent loss leaves their World Cup fate at the mercy of others
In the final Group Stage match, South Korea stumbled to a 1-0 defeat to South Africa.
In a surprising move, the South Korean team opted against starting star forward Son Heung-min.
Head coach Hong Myung-bo said this was out of hope that his fresh legs would be an advantage against the tiring South African side during the latter stages of the match.
Source: @KORFootballNews on X
Unfortunately, this strategy proved ineffective, and the result put South Africa through to the knockout stage for the first time.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s hopes of advancing from the group stage will depend on how the results from the other groups unfold over the next couple of days.
Netizens bash team’s performance
Fans online were less than impressed with how the South Korean national team performed.
“If we lose, it will be well-deserved,” a frustrated netizen wrote. “Never seen a team in the World Cup look so lethargic and sleepy, making terrible passes and giving up the ball so many times.”
Source: Reddit
Many agreed with the sentiment, saying that they observed zero urgency from the players despite being in possession for most of the match.
There were also calls for the head coach to be sacked.
A new thread even popped up an hour later to criticise him for “wasting South Korean talent”.
Source: Reddit
Some fans were sad that Son’s last games on the World Cup stage would end with a whimper.
Source: Reddit
A couple of commenters went so far as to suggest overhauls of the Korea Football Association. Comments on the Korea Football Association’s official Instagram echoed the sentiments shared on Reddit.
Also read: Iran’s football team leaves handwritten note calling for peace after World Cup match in LA
Iran’s football team leaves handwritten note calling for peace after World Cup match in LA
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Featured image adapted from @thekfa on Instagram and @KORFootballNews on X.
‘So lethargic and sleepy’: South Korean netizens bash national team’s performance during World Cup
