Some might assume the form of Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae will decide whether South Korea go far at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but manager Hong Myung-bo will hope not to rely so heavily on them.
On paper, South Korea have a lot of good players. In reality, they arrive at the 2026 World Cup with more questions than answers.
They went unbeaten in qualifying, but criticism still arrived due to a perception that they drew too often. The third round of AFC World Cup qualifying included them being held at home by Jordan (1-1), Oman (1-1) and Palestine (0-0).
This will be South Korea’s 12th World Cup, the most of any Asian nation. It will also be their 11th consecutive appearance at the finals – only Brazil (23), Germany (19), Argentina (14) and Spain (13) are on a longer run of consecutive participations.
Hong Myung-bo – in his second spell as South Korea boss – has plenty of World Cup experience, both as a player and manager. In fact, he played for his country the last time the tournament was held in the United States in 1994, where he scored twice, also featuring at the 1990, 1998 and 2002 editions, totalling 16 World Cup appearances.
He was also assistant to Dick Advocaat in 2006, and then led South Korea as manager in 2014, though it didn’t go brilliantly: they drew with Russia before losing to both Algeria and Belgium to exit at the group stage in Brazil.
He’s back for another go, though the fans aren’t 100% sure exactly how he’ll go about it. Hong stuck with a back four during almost the entirety of World Cup qualifying, but has since favoured a back three in preparation for the tournament. The assumption is he will continue to do so, especially as he has named six players in his squad who can play at centre-back.
The manager did, however, recently suggest that he merely wanted to keep his options open, as his experience of World Cups has taught him that flexibility is key.
“In the World Cups I’ve experienced, relying on a single tactic was difficult,” he told reporters. “That’s why we consistently practised the back-three system despite the short time. There’s about a six-day rest period after the first match [vs Czechia], during which we can analyse the [next] opponent and respond with a different formation [if needed].”
Despite those draws, they were largely impressive in AFC World Cup qualifying; only Japan (51) scored more goals than South Korea (40), while of teams to play more than six games, only the Samurai Blue (3) and Australia (7) conceded fewer goals than them (8). They also allowed the second fewest shots (92) and second fewest xG (6.6), both behind Japan (66 and 4.4).
That is AFC qualifying, though, where South Korea are expected to excel. The World Cup itself will be a big step up in quality, and Hong will be hoping his star players can rise to the occasion when the tournament begins.
There is no South Korean player whose star shines brighter than Son Heung-min. He may be 33 years of age now, but the former Tottenham forward is still the main man for his country. He is the joint top scorer in World Cup history for South Korea (3, level with Ahn Jung-hwan and Park Ji-sung).
Son is yet to score in Major League Soccer this season in 13 games, which is quite the comedown after scoring 12 goals in 13 MLS games last season. However, he does lead the way in the league for assists (8).
Only Qatar’s Almoez Ali (12) scored more goals in AFC World Cup qualifying than Son (10), though, which was twice as many as any of his teammates (Lee Jae-sung and Lee Kang-in both 5).
He also found the net twice in South Korea’s first warm-up game, a 5-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday.
The man with the friendliest smile in football can make an impact this summer, but he will need help.
Lee Kang-in was perhaps unfairly labelled the ‘next Son’ by some, but he has struggled for regular game time at Paris Saint-Germain. The 25-year-old did make a respectable 39 appearances in all competitions this season, but only 19 of those were starts, recording four goals and four assists for the European champions.
He did record 11 goal involvements in qualifying, though, with five goals and six assists in 15 games, the most assists of any South Korea player. Only Qatar’s Akram Afif (69) created more chances in AFC qualifying than his 37, and only three players completed more than his 21 dribbles.
The other forwards named in the squad with Son are former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-gyu, who scored six goals in 13 Süper Lig games for Besiktas after joining from Genk in January, and Cho Gue-sung, who managed just three goals in 26 Danish top-flight games for Midtjylland after missing the entire 2024-25 campaign through injury. He scored four times in just nine games for South Korea in World Cup qualifying, though.
Things are arguably even more intriguing in defence.
Plenty will rest on the mighty shoulders of Kim Min-jae. The Bayern Munich centre-back is very much third choice at club level behind Jonathan Tah and Dayot Upamecano, but he still made 37 appearances for his club this season (23 starts). He also won 29 of 39 aerial duels for South Korea in qualifying; only three players who competed in as many aerial duels had a better success rate than his 74.4%. He will be expected to lead the defence, even if it remains uncertain who exactly he will be leading.
There are a number of possibilities to partner him in what will likely be a back three, though. Lee Han-beom and Lee Gi-hyuk are the likeliest to do so, both are comfortable in possession and started the recent warm-up friendlies, but Hong could yet spring a surprise.
The left wing-back will likely be Jens Castrop, who is set to make history. The Borussia Mönchengladbach man will be the first foreign-born player of dual heritage to represent South Korea at a World Cup. Castrop – who has a German father and South Korean mother – swapped his international allegiance from Germany in August 2025, and received his first call-up soon after.
For fans of the English Football League, there will be some familiar names representing South Korea this summer. Paik Seung-ho (Birmingham City), Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City), Um Ji-sung (Swansea City), and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves). There is also Celtic winger Yang Hyun-jun, who will hope to bring momentum with him following his part in the comeback to pip Hearts to the Scottish Premiership title last month.
They will be among the first teams to feature at the 2026 World Cup, as part of Group A. South Korea face Czechia in the second game of the tournament, before also taking on Mexico and South Africa. All three of their games will take place in Mexico, and the last time the World Cup took place there in 1986, South Korea were also in Group A. However, they were the only team not to advance to the knockout stage, finishing bottom with one point behind Argentina, Italy and Bulgaria.
2026 World Cup
As well as the thrashing of Trinidad & Tobago, South Korea warmed up for the World Cup with a 1-0 win over El Salvador on Wednesday, with Lee Dong-Gyeong’s free-kick earning victory. Once again, they used a back-three system.
Whatever way Hong sets up, he will need his star players to be at their best if they are to make an impact at this World Cup. South Korea have only ever made it past the first knockout round once, on their famous run to the semi-finals when they co-hosted with Japan in 2002.
In Qatar in 2022, they managed to get through the group stage by finishing above Uruguay and Ghana despite beating neither of them – they snuck through with a 2-1 win over group winners Portugal on Matchday 3 – but were soundly beaten 4-1 by Brazil in the last 16.
Can they go further this time? Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in, and Kim Min-jae have shown they can do it at the highest level, but if South Korea are to do well this summer, it will almost certainly need to be a team effort. It’s anyone’s guess as to what team will turn up, but that unpredictability could count in their favour.
In fact, it could even be their secret weapon.
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