Korea Republic are gearing up for their eighth straight FIFA World Cup appearance, looking to replicate their heroics from 2002, when they made the semi-final on home soil.
But how realistic is that ambition, and what should we expect from a team grouped with co-host Mexico, Czechia and South Africa in Group A?
Our team gave their verdict on The Asian Game Podcast as we began our team-by-team previews for all nine AFC nations, with the biggest bone of contention coming from the suggestion that Son Heung-min could, at times, be used as a super sub.
A last tilt for this generation – Paul Williams
I don’t know, necessarily, that they’ve got the depth that they have had in the past. It’s a very old squad. I was running through some numbers, and I think they’ve got seven players over the age of 30 (and) an average age of 27.
So it very much feels like for this generation of Korean players it’s now or never, because a lot of those I imagine will retire post-World Cup, and then we don’t know what the Korean national team will look like from there.
You look at Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Jae-sung, players of that ilk have been around for a long time, and they’re still playing at a decent level, so it’s no surprise that they’ve been picked. I think the question is, then, is there a concern over what is coming through in the pipeline of Korean football?
They’ve had some decent results at an underage level in Asia. I think they’ve made the semi-finals of both the most recent under-20 and under-23 Asian Cups, which suggests there is some talent that’s coming through, but I think there are major question marks. As I said, a lot of these senior players will, I expect, retire after this World Cup. It generally is the case with Korean players (that) not many continue on well into their 30s. So, I expect a lot of those will retire, and it’s what comes next?
That’s going to be a big generational shift. It’s going to be then up to the likes of Lee Kang-in to be the leader of this team, and lead a new generation of talent. We’ve seen Korea go from generation to generation with standout players, the likes of Lee Young-pyo, Park Ji-sung, into Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae, you’ve got Lee Kang-in now, but then, okay, who’s the next superstar that’s coming through after that?
I think that’s the question that probably needs to be answered, and I’m not sure from what we’ve seen from Korea at the moment, we know who that’s going to be. So, there’s some questions to be asked after this World Cup as to where this team goes.
Korea stuck in limbo – Martin Lowe
As much as maybe the big players, so Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in to a lesser extent, are potentially not in the best form or the best part of their career, I think there’s a lot of depth in attacking areas, especially when you think about Yang Hyun-jun, (while) Cho Gue-sung probably won’t even get much minutes at all when he was one of the starters at the last World Cup. I think there’s a number of options there.
I think where the issue is, unfortunately, like a lot of the other nations, it feels like it’s a transition period, and not even a transition period, it’s a limbo period. Hong Myung-bo, everyone’s unanimous (that) he’s probably going to depart, or at least move on after this World Cup, even ahead of the Asian Cup, which obviously slows momentum ahead of that Asian Cup.
(It) just feels like very much everybody’s in that kind of standing point at the moment, at a time when I think the quality of Asian football, as we saw at the last World Cup, even though the performances didn’t match it, I think we are starting to see a bridge of the gap between Asian football and European football, and I think as much as a lot of these nations are going into it probably with question marks around them, and in this transition period, I could see more than three or four getting through to the knockout stage.
Could Son be a super sub? – Steve Han
There’s no question that Son Heung-min is one of the main players for Korea. I don’t think that’s really a secret, anybody would know this, but it’s also true that Hong Myung-bo, since taking over, has mentioned publicly, and I’ve also heard from people that one of the things that he’s really trying to do is to make sure that Sonny shares his burden with the rest of the team.
No question that Sonny will play a main role, don’t be shocked though if he comes off the bench in one or two games, even at the World Cup. Because Hong Myung-bo has mentioned several times that he’s going to use Sonny when he feels like Korea needs him the most, and that may mean that he doesn’t start certain games.
I mean, it will be a shock if he doesn’t start even one of Korea’s World Cup games, but Hong Myung-bo has hinted at that possibility, and he’s done bold things before, so I can see that happening. But in terms of Sonny’s status on the team, no question he is the main player. That being said, Lee Kang-in is a player who should be in contention to take the torch from Sonny, and this World Cup is where a lot of his fans will expect them to start taking that role on a little bit more.
Hard to see Hong changing Sonβs role – Michael Church
I can’t see (Hong) changing doing what he has been doing with him. He’s always been such a big presence for Korea. It’s not just about his ability, it’s about his leadership, it’s about that aura that he has, the fact that he’s changed so much in the club game.
He hasn’t always been the leader that Korean football has always wanted him to be. I don’t think that’s necessarily been a lack of effort on his part, but maybe other coaches have not really succeeded in getting the best out of him. I think we certainly saw that with Paulo Bento for much of his reign. But he’s still going to be an enormously important player.
My sense always was that one of the reasons that he left Tottenham, left the Premier League, left top level European football when he did was so that he could give his best to Korea at this World Cup. He could go into this tournament relatively fresh, without having the exertions of a big season in the higher intensity levels of European football.
So I think it’ll be interesting to see if the Korea team benefits from him having less game time and maybe playing in a different role, and whether he comes into the tournament, yes, he’s older, but yes, maybe fresher legged, maybe able to exert his influence more on the pitch. But look, he’s such an important player, both on and off, in terms of, you know, his position as captain and his position as, you know, the talisman of the team.
So never write him off. I mean, he’s obviously very, very capable still physically. The team still look very much to him in terms of what he can do for them, and what he can do to unlock opposing defenses. He’s not as sharp, heβs not as quick as he was, but I think he’ll still be an important player for the team.
No world in which Son doesnβt start – Scott McIntyre
I don’t see any world in which Son is not (starting every game)… it’s like Argentina not starting with Messi or something, I just can’t see that. The other point here is that they’ve only named, if you include Son in this, only three No.9s, or out-and-out point of attack players.
I’m a bit surprised that Oh Se-hun didn’t make the squad because he’s been very good in this little transition tournament over here at Shimizu.
Hwang In-beomβs recovery a relief for Korea – Steve Han
From what I’ve been told, he’s almost fully recovered. I don’t think he’s started training at full intensity yet, which is a concern, because he hasn’t played in a competitive match since March.
So, yeah, his health is a concern, even if he were to be fit, for him to play his first competitive game in three months in a World Cup game is kind of risky. But that’s not to take anything away from his importance to the team, because Korea has a big hole to fill in the defensive midfield position, but if they’re missing (Hwang) as well, that will be a disaster, to be honest.
Because there’s no one like him in Korea who could do what he does, in terms of, running up and down the pitch, and also being that playmaker in deep midfield positions, he’s an integral part of this team, just as important as anybody, to be honest. So, without him, Korea would be in big trouble.
But fortunately, we’re hearing that he’s going to be healthy for the World Cup. But being healthy and being match fit are two different things, and match fitness is what’s really in question, because he hasn’t played in more than three months now, and you know that’s obviously a concern.
So the big point of interest when Korea start playing these friendlies against Trinidad & Tobago and El Salvador, is how much will Hwang In-beom will play, and how will he look, just because he hasn’t played that many games because of injuries for Korea over the last six months.
