The Korea men's national soccer team led by coach Hong Myung-bo fell narrowly to Mexico, one of the 2026 North and Central America World Cup host nations, and failed to clinch a spot in the round of 32.
At 10 a.m. on the 19th (Korea time) at Estadio Akron in Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico, Korea lost 1-0 to Mexico in their second Group A match of the World Cup group stage.
With one win and one loss for three points to remain second in the group, Korea cannot top the group even if it wins its third match against South Africa (one point, fourth place).
Because of this, the best-case scenario for Korea is to hold on to second place and advance to the round of 32. A win or draw against South Africa secures second place and a round of 32 berth.
In the other Group A match played earlier, the Czech Republic and South Africa drew 1-1, leaving both countries with one draw and one loss. On goal difference, the Czech Republic is third and South Africa is fourth.
If Korea finishes second in Group A, it will face the second-place team from Group B (Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland) in the round of 32 on the 29th at 4 a.m. (Korea time) in Los Angeles (LA), United States.
However, if Korea loses to South Africa and Mexico beats or draws with the Czech Republic, Korea could still target third place on goal difference and seek a wild card.
The worst case is Korea losing to South Africa and Mexico losing to the Czech Republic. In that case, the Czech Republic and South Africa would settle second and third on goal difference, and Korea would be eliminated in fourth.
The match turned on a Korean mistake in the 50th minute. Goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu came out to catch a high cross but dropped the ball as he tangled with Lee Ki-hyeok while landing.
Luis Romo pounced on the error and scored by right-footing the ball into the empty net. Korea had controlled the game by increasing possession from the latter part of the first half, but conceded the lead.
Korea probed Mexico's goal aggressively in the first half with Son Heung-min's lob attempt in the 16th minute and Seol Young-woo's shot in the 41st, and came out even more attacking after falling behind.
In the 56th minute, Son Heung-min picked up the ball in the penalty area but hesitated to set up his angle and failed to get a shot off. Immediately after, coach Hong replaced Lee Jae-sung and Son with Hwang Hee-chan and Oh Hyeon-gyu.
In the 71st minute, Yang Hyun-jun and Eom Ji-sung came on for Seol Young-woo and Kim Moon-hwan. In the 77th, Cho Gyu-sung replaced Baek Seung-ho as Korea pushed forward to make up the deficit.
Cho Gyu-sung, who was brought on then, met Eom Ji-sung's left-wing cross with a header in front of goal in the 87th minute, but was denied by goalkeeper Raul Rangel, to Korea's frustration.
Kim Seung-gyu also prevented further damage in the 75th minute, making a difficult save on Raul Jimenez's shot off a diagonal cross.
During six minutes of stoppage time, Korea kept pressing the opposing goal, but failed to score under Mexico's intensified defensive pressure after substitutions and lost.