With South Korea having locked down their World Cup berth early, head coach Hong Myung-bo said Friday he will use the team's one final qualifying match to test young and unproven players.
Hong and the rest of the team received a hero's welcome home at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, on Friday evening, some 12 hours after securing their 2026 World Cup ticket by beating Iraq 2-0 in Basra, southern Iraq, in their latest qualifying match.
South Korea will compete in their 11th consecutive World Cup, a streak bettered by only Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy and Spain.
South Korea will host Kuwait in Seoul on Tuesday to wrap up Group B play in the third round of the Asian qualifiers. After grabbing their World Cup spot in a hostile environment, the South Korean players will likely be in for a celebratory night in front of home fans in an otherwise inconsequential match.
To Hong, though, the match will still be an important occasion as he hopes to get a closer look at some inexperienced players in a national team setting.
"We will try our best in that match. And it's an opportunity for us to test young guys who may be able to play at the World Cup next year," Hong told reporters at the airport. "We won't have too many opportunities like this. It's one thing for those guys to watch from the bench and quite another for them to play."
Hong said there is no shortage of options on the current iteration of the squad. Of the 26 players, seven players were born in the 2000s and 14 players have fewer than 10 caps.
Five of them didn't have any international appearance prior to the Iraq match, with defender Cho Hyun-taek and midfielder Jeon Jin-woo making their debuts in Basra.
"Both on defense and offense, we can send out some young players. I will be talking to my staff on how to go about that plan," Hong added. "From this moment on, everything we do will be geared toward preparing for the World Cup."
After the Kuwait match, Hong said he will travel to the United States to watch the FIFA Club World Cup, where his former K League 1 team, Ulsan HD FC, will be the lone South Korean representative. Then in July, South Korea will host the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Championship, followed by friendly matches against the US and Mexico in September.
The EAFF tournament has usually featured players based in the domestic K League because it's held in the offseason for European clubs. With the World Cup a year away, though, Hong hinted he may cast a wider net than usual when it comes to selecting players.
"For the East Asian tournament, I want to take players who have a chance to play, and help the team at the World Cup and be competitive there," Hong said. "After that event, then I will start getting ready for the September friendlies."
With young guns licking their chops, Hong hinted that Son Heung-min, who wasn't on the squad list against Iraq, may be held out next week, too.
Son missed about a month earlier this year with a foot injury, before captaining Tottenham Hotspur to the UEFA Europa League title on May 21. He did not play in Spurs' final Premier League match of the season that weekend, and Hong said Son is not fully recovered from the foot trouble.
"If we wanted to force the issue, he could have played maybe 20 to 30 minutes. But I don't think it's the right thing to do to the player at this moment," Hong said. "His season is over, and he had a tough one with injuries. We will make a decision on him over the next couple of days, but I don't think we're at a point where we have to push him that hard."
Hong thanked South Korean fans for their support while watching the match that kicked off at 3:15 a.m. Friday. With Iraq on the South Korean government's travel ban list due to security risks, no fans made the trip to watch the win in person.
Hong admitted he had been concerned about safety issues during the team's stay in Iraq and thanked the South Korean Embassy in Iraq for taking good care of the players.
After resting Saturday, the players will report back to training camp Sunday afternoon. (Yonhap)
