Hong Myung-bo admits responsibility after defeat: “The loss came from my poor decisions” as South Korea fall 0–1 to South Africa

In the third round of the World Cup group stage, South Korea lost 0–1 to South Africa. After the match, South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo gave an interview.

Below is a Q&A from the press conference:

This performance is hard to accept. Were there any unavoidable reasons before the match?
Our performance in this match was indeed not good. There was absolutely no situation within the team such as food poisoning or anything like that. I do not want to attribute the reason to that at all. It is true that across the three World Cup matches, we played one poor game.

What do you think were the reasons for the poor performance?
People always judge based on results. However, our preparation focused on how to perfectly execute our tactics on the pitch. If we had known the result in advance, we would have adjusted our strategy accordingly. If the outcome is like this, people may offer various explanations, but I believe that on such an important stage, the result is entirely the responsibility of the coach. Everything comes down to my judgment and decisions. I think the poor result stems from my incorrect judgment and decisions. That is all.

Weather
I don’t think we arrived too early. We arrived one day earlier than South Africa. Although we understood the match and prepared for it, the conditions here are completely different from Guadalajara. I believe this also had some impact. I believe we prepared properly for this World Cup in our own way. Based on the third match result, we clearly understood how we needed to play. We also knew how to win the match. However, after conceding, we seemed to become anxious, and as a result, we lost the game. This is entirely due to the decisions I made during preparation.

Reason for starting Son Heung-min on the bench
I judged that rather than using Son Heung-min in the first half when the opponent still had the upper hand, it would be better to bring him on after halftime when their defensive line showed more gaps. That’s why I made that decision.

Tactical approach against South Africa
Of course, we prepared for the match. However, compared to the previous games, we made quite a few mistakes in midfield today. As a result, the players seemed to lose confidence. If we had focused more on wing play, I believe we could have controlled the opponent’s most important counterattacks. I feel our performance today was not as good as in the previous match.