The Korea men's national soccer team finished third in its group at the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup group stage, failing to advance to the round of 32 on its own.
The Korea national soccer team led by Coach Hong Myung-bo lost 1-0 to South Africa on the 25th (Korea time) in the final third Group A match of the group stage at Monterrey Stadium in Guadalupe, Mexico.
With 1 win and 2 losses (2 goals for, 3 against) for 3 points, Korea dropped to third in the group behind Mexico, which won all three games (9 points), and South Africa, which had 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss (4 points).
At this tournament, expanded from 32 to 48 teams, the field is split into 12 groups of four for the group stage, after which the 24 teams that finish first and second in their groups are joined by the top eight third-place teams to make 32 for the knockout stage to continue the title race. Hong's side will have its round of 32 fate decided by results in other groups.
Currently, three groups have completed the group stage. If Korea ranks ahead of at least three of the nine remaining groups' third-place teams, it can reach the round of 32.
Even if it reaches the round of 32 as a third-place team, it will face the first-place team from Group E or Group G. Group E's leader is Germany, and Group G (Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand) will determine its leader on the 2nd of next month.
On the day, Hong took a bold step by leaving Son Heung-min (34, LA FC), who failed to score in the previous two matches, out of the starting lineup, but Korea finished the first half with zero shots on target.
There were passing errors in the back line that led to danger, and Korea was on the back foot, allowing the opponent multiple shots on target.
In the second half, he called on Hwang Hee-chan (30, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Baek Seung-ho (29, Birmingham City FC) and Lee Tae-seok (24, FK Austria Wien).
Then he sent on Son Heung-min, Kim Jin-gyu (29, Jeonbuk Hyundai) and Jens Castrop (22, Borussia Mönchengladbach) to shake things up, but conceded the opener in the 17th minute of the second half.
After that, in the 20th minute of the second half, Park Jin-seop (31, Zhejiang FC) replaced Kim Min-jae (30, FC Bayern Munich), who had an injury, and Cho Gyu-seong (28, FC Midtjylland) came on for Oh Hyeon-gyu (25, Beşiktaş JK) in an attempt to turn the tide, but Korea ultimately failed to score and lost.