06/06/2026

SPORTS SATURDAY | JUNE 6, 2026

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2026 WORLD CUP

Dark clouds hang over South Korea

SON HEUNG-MIN and South Korea head to North America with a sense of foreboding threatening to envelop them, for what will surely be their talisman’s last World Cup. The 33-year-old skipper has faced growing questions about his faltering form and international future while coach Hong Myung-bo is deeply unpopular with fans. Pre-World Cup friendlies only added to the sense of disgruntle ment, thrashed 4-0 by the Ivory Coast and beaten 1-0 by Austria. Afterwards, Hong was moved to defend Son, who left Premier League Tottenham last year for Los Angeles FC in the MLS with his best days seemingly behind him. “Son Heung-min is the heart of our team and I have never once doubted that,” Hong told reporters. South Korea face the Czech Republic in Guadalajara on the opening day of the tournament on June 12 (10am Malaysian time). If South Korea are to get out of the group they will need the attacker Son to start firing again. He has scored 54 goals in 143 games for his country and been their inspiration for more than 15 years. But his powers are clearly on the

The country’s best World Cup performance remains reaching the semifinals in 2002 when they co-hosted. Since, they have never gone beyond the last 16. During qualifying, sup porters consistently jeered the 57-year-old coach Hong, who led South Korea to a meek group-stage exit at the 2014 World Cup, when they failed to win a game. Son has pleaded with supporters to

wane and he has hardly lit up the MLS since Spurs let him go in August last year. Following the friendly defeat to Austria in England in March, during which Son fluffed his lines, he defi antly denied that he had lost his goalscoring touch. “I don’t think I’ve suffered any dip in my performance,” the Yonhap News agency quoted him as saying. “When the time comes for me to leave the national team, then I will do it on my own. It’s disappointing that people talk about decline when ever I hit a dry spell.” Son will be desperate to make up for what was a miserable 2022 Qatar World Cup for him. He was shadow of himself, forced to wear a mask to protect a fractured eye socket and failing to score as South Korea were bundled out in the last 16 with a 4-1 hammering by Brazil. South Korea fans saw their side comfortably reach the World Cup unbeaten in qualifying, but they have low expectations of what the team will do in North America. “Fans’ collective confidence level seems to be at an all-time low,” Yonhap said this month.

Austria, Hong defended his use of three centrebacks and wingbacks, saying he wanted his side to be tacti cally flexible. “Our players have been playing in the back-four formation for a long time,” he said. “But we’ve all seen that we can’t afford to take just one set of tactics to the World Cup.” South Korea’s squad is mostly based abroad and takes in an array of overseas leagues in the United States, Europe and Asia. Kim Min-jae has been a mainstay in central defence

Klinsmann, who was

sacked after just 12 turbu lent months. After the demoralising losses to the Ivory Coast and

get behind the team and the coach. Fans also have the knives out for the Korea Football Association over the process that saw Hong reap pointed two years ago. Before him were two interim

for his country and at 29 the Bayern Munich man dubbed “Monster” should be at his peak. Lee Kang-in is another who has proven pedigree in top European foot ball, first with Valencia and Mallorca and now with Paris Saint Germain. The versatile attacker has been used sparingly by PSG

managers and there was the disastrous appointment of Jurgen

and is linked with a move away this year.

Hong Myung-bo

Sundowns, Pirates dominate Bafana Bafana

RECENT major trophy winners Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates dominated the South Africa 2026 World Cup squad with eight players each. Sundowns won the CAF Champions League a second time on May 24, defeating Moroccan rivals FAR Rabat 2-1 on aggregate in the final. A day earlier, Pirates were crowned South African Premiership champions for the first time since 2012, ending a run of eight con secutive league titles by Sundowns. A surprise omission was Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brandon Petersen, whose out standing form helped his club finish third behind Pirates and Sundowns in the Premiership. He was set to be called up for World Cup warm-up matches against Panama two months ago, only to be sidelined by appendix surgery. Belgian coach Hugo Broos included 19 local players in his 26-man squad, five play in Europe and two in the United States. Among the 10 African qualifiers, Egypt are the only other nation that will rely largely on home-based stars. There were 18 in a pre liminary squad of 27 chosen by coach Hossam Hassan. Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams will captain South Africa, who face co-hosts Mexico in the World Cup opener on June 12, then tackle the Czech Republic and South Korea. Group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32 in a tournament boasting a record 48 teams. Eight of the 12 third-placed countries also qualify for the knockout phase. South Africa are seeking to progress beyond the first round for the first time in four attempts after early exits from the 1998

footballers from European clubs,” he told reporters. “That is a disadvantage for South Africa. There is a gap between the (local) Premiership and Europe. I hope in future more players here will have opportunities to play abroad. “To narrow the gap you need South Africans playing in very diffi cult conditions. “If they can succeed in Europe, South Africa will become a power ful football nation.” Among the 32 contenders for World Cup places, only five are based in Europe. Another two are with Major League Soccer clubs in the United States. None of five South Africans in Europe will be at a club in one of the top five European leagues next sea son after Burnley, whose squad includes striker Lyle Foster, were relegated. Centreback Ime Okon is with German second-tier outfit Hannover and full-back Samukele Kabini lines up for Molde in Norway. Midfielder Sphephelo Sithole plays for Tondela in Portugal and striker Thapelo Maseko for Cypriot club AEL Limassol. The US-based duo are both defenders – Mbekezeli Mbokazi of Chicago Fire and Olwethu Makhanya from Philadelphia Union. Mbokazi is not just an emerg ing centreback star, he packs a powerful left-foot shot from long range.

and 2002 tournaments as qualifiers and the 2010 edition as hosts. While accepting that Bafana Bafana (The Boys) will be the outsiders in Group A, Broos is confident his team can create history and secure a second-round slot. “Anything is possible in football and every World Cup includes upsets. Who thought Morocco would reach the semifinals at the last tournament?” This World Cup will mark the end of the football career of 74-year-old Broos, a defender in the Belgium squad that fin ished fourth at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. “There cannot be a greater end ing to my time as a footballer and a coach than going to a World Cup. I am in charge of a squad of fighters. Who knows what we may achieve?” South Africa surpassed expecta tions at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, finishing third. However, The Boys flopped this year at the latest Afcon, making a timid last-16 exit to a young Cameroon side.

Hugo Broos

In March, fellow World Cup quali fiers Panama visited the republic for World Cup warm-up matches. The Central Americans drew in Durban and won in Cape Town. Apart from wanting to take Bafana beyond the group stage for the first time in four appear ances, Broos hopes the World Cup can serve as a “shop win dow” for South African talent. “When we face other African nations in the World

Cup or Afcon, we are up against teams packed with