It’s too early to make conclusions, and even our previous God-awful managers had a few good games, especially at home. New managers often have good debuts because the players try harder to impress their new boss. For us, even a normal manager who does just the bare minimum is a godsend. But those caveats aside, Moreno is different. He had just 2-3 days to train with the team, and the team already looks so much better. Yes, Ecuador was fatigued from traveling to Korea, but to dominate them 3-0 is still very impressive and unlike Klinsmann and Hong Myung Bo, it’s very clear what Moreno is trying to achieve tactically. Anyone who watched the game might be thinking “wow so this is why the manager is so important in football.” Every news article, every Korean football content creator/Youtuber, all praising Robert Moreno and the players themselves only have good things to say as well.
I’m not saying that Moreno is an incredible world class manager – I’m saying that Moreno is a NORMAL manager and for us and our incredibly low rock-bottom standards for managers, just being normal and having common sense is a night and day improvement. Let’s delve into the Ecuador friendly and all the things that went RIGHT for once.
The Lineup – we knew we would get a 4-4-2 at least on paper, and that is what we got.
Nothing too surprising in the backline – Kim Min Jae and Lee Han Beom are locks as is Seol Young Woo either on the right or the left; it seems that Lee Tae Seok might not have been in the best condition hence why we went for Cho Hyeon Taek, who was always one of the K League’s best LBs (he made his NT debut back in 2025).
The midfield is where things get interesting – I did not expect to see a midfield duo of Lee Jae Sung and Park Jin Seob. We’ve never had a clear starting DM, but Lee Jae Sung centrally gave me mixed reactions – on one hand he plays there well for Mainz alongside Sano Kaishu, but has struggled there for KNT. I’d say that overall, it worked well, but he still did have times where he got muscled off the ball a bit too easily.
And finally, OHG – SHM playing together, which is something we’ve been clamoring for for ages now. Son Heung Min throughout his career has always thrived playing off of someone. Kim Shin Wook in the early KNT days, then Stefan Kiessling for Leverkusen, Harry Kane for Tottenham, and now maybe Bouanga for LAFC but either way, SHM as a lone isolated one top just doesn’t work (Hong Myung Bo that’s directed at you). SHM – OHG was a huge success. They have complimentary styles, and time and time again we saw them working together to create space for each other.
The game itself
In all the statistics, we were ahead. I don’t remember the last time we were this dominant against non-AFC opposition. Check out the highlights video and I’ll highlight a few important points:
Kim Min Jae’s role: Kim Min Jae was always the cornerstone of our defense. At Bayern, his extraordinary athletic profile allows the team to maintain an aggressive, high defensive line. He shoulders the massive responsibility of covering expansive space behind the midfield, but it is a job very few in the world can do, and he is one of them. KMJ’s elite recovery pace acts as an insurance policy against opposition counter-attacks, shutting down transition moments before they can fully materialize. Moreno always said he wants players on the NT to do exactly what they do for club, and unsurprisingly Moreno is doing the same thing with Korea. But he has added another dimension to KMJ’s role on the KNT: initiating attacks. In this game, KMJ served as the primary catalyst for launching attacks from deep. Operating as the ball-playing center-back today, his ability to drive forward into space or punch vertical, line-breaking passes into central midfield, often to either Son Heung Min or Song Min Kyu dropping down to receive the pass, bypasses the opponent’s pressing block.
High work rate players: Song Min Kyu and Jeong Seung Won are famous for their workrate. They were integral to Moreno’s plans. They pressed in coordination with the front to of SHM and OHG. They kept formation in defense (4-4-2) and dropped deep the help the fullbacks. They made runs either behind the defensive line or towards are defenders to free space for other players. It was reminiscent of 2002 almost, where the team defended and attacked as one – it was the complete opposite of the recent World Cup, where the players were static and barely covered any ground, at Hong Myung Bo’s instructions.
Things Moreno Got Right – a Massive Contrast to HMB
Fielding players where they’re most comfortable – Moreno has constantly emphasized that the footballers he calls up will play the exact same roles they do for their club on the national team. This is the polar opposite of Hong Myung Bo, who kept forcing square pegs into round holes even when the players themselves expressed dissatisfaction. The benefits are obvious – the players can do what they do best, not having to learn a new position or an entirely new skillset. It seems almost silly for me to say this but it was SO refreshing to see wingers playing as wingers. Hong Myung Bo kept forcing fullbacks to play winger and to run behind the defense, run at defenders, etc. – things they just do not know how to do. He forced HWANG HEE CHAN to act as an attacking midfield. Moreno, like a normal person, has players do what they’re actually good at. No wonder that even with such a short training period, the national team looked much improved.
HMB’s 3 back vs Moreno’s 3 back – Under HMB the national team stubbornly forced a back-three build-up (with the La Volpiana being the buzzword here) that frequently led to passive, disjointed play. He forced fullbacks to act as high wide attackers while wingers inverted into central attacking midfield spaces. This left players isolated on the flanks, slowed down ball circulation, and created massive structural gaps when possession turned over.
Moreno immediately scrapped the rigid back-three foundation in favor of a dynamic 4-4-2. This shift drastically improved pitch spacing, allowing central defenders like Kim Min Jae and Lee Han Beom to actively drive forward into open space as a primary option rather than just recycling sideways. Furthermore, pushing the fullbacks into more natural, progressive positions rather than letting them sit too deep unlocked much sharper wide combinations.
Moreno also played a makeshift 3-ATB in attacking situations, but the difference was night and day:
Creating Space for Each Other – Something that almost never happened with Hong Myung Bo’s Korea was “switching play” (or that’s what we call it in Korean). There are so many clips of Kim Min Jae putting in a through pass to Song Min Kyu in the half space because Son Heung Min drifted left to clear a passing lane. A key mechanism in Moreno’s positional play is utilizing attacking players as dynamic decoys. By dropping sharply into the blind spots between the opponent’s midfield and defensive lines, they force opposing center-backs or holding midfielders to either follow them – vacating space behind – or stay deep, allowing them to turn and link play uncontested. These decoy runs aren’t just about individual touches; they manipulate the opponent’s defensive block. When markers get sucked into tracking Son or Song dropping deep, it instantly opens up diagonal passing lanes and green grass for overlapping full-backs or late-arriving central midfielders to exploit.
None of this is spontaneous – plays like this are rehearsed and planned ahead of time in training. One attacker (Son, Song, Oh, or Jeong) had to know that by moving towards someone else’s zone, that someone else would seamlessly run into the space vacated by them. Kim Min Jae had to identify that and time the pass right. I’ve seen various terms thrown around for this – in Korean it translates to “promised plays” and in English I’ve seen “training ground moves” or “rehearsed plays” but I think you got the point. With Bento we used to see moves like this a lot – with Klinsmann and HMB, there were none. The sluggishness and lack of fluid movement was truly suffocating.
Synchronized Pressing Triggers – Beyond possession space-making, the press acts as an extension of this control. Moreno’s front line initiates collective triggers on back-passes, immediately choking off passing angles so the opponent has no choice but to clear long – right into the waiting zone of Korea’s central enforcers. For the first time in forever, we had a coordinated press, with all the attackers moving as one. It was really cathartic to see..
Halftime Adaptability: After a scoreless, sluggish first half, Moreno didn’t tear up his tactical blueprint or make erratic substitutions. Instead, he made precise, low-friction tweaks at halftime – adjusting the fullback height and raising the defensive pressing line – which instantly turned the tide in the second half.
Simplicity and Role Clarity for Short International Windows: National team managers often struggle with a lack of training time. Moreno smartly avoided overloading players with overly complex tactical theory. Instead, he instilled simple, clearly defined positional roles for every phase of play and actually allowed players to do what they usually do for club on the national team, allowing players to rely on their natural quality while executing a cohesive team structure.
Rotation: very glad to see Lee Kang In and Hwang In Beom rested. Might’ve been good to see Lee Han Beom or Son Heung Min rested as well, but they were always going to start, weren’t they?
Player comments
Kim Min Jae was especially vocal about abandoning the rigid three-back system used during the World Cup in favor of Moreno’s preferred 4-4-2. KMJ and Seol Young Woo were the most critical before the World Cup because none of the defenders played 3 ATB for club (well… Jens did but inexplicably he only played 45 minutes at the very end of our campaign – despite being the ONLY wingback on the team). “Playing with a back four is definitely more comfortable both physically and mentally,” Kim noted. He added that actively utilizing wide spaces made playing fun again, and that Moreno gave the center-backs clear freedom to push forward and prioritize forward passing: “Before going out to play, he told our center backs that if there is space, go through it. He demanded we play more forward passes as our first option.”
Jeong Seung Won (one of the biggest beneficiaries of the managerial shift) praised the tactical setup and shared lighthearted banter with the coach: “From the national team call-up, the coach joked, ‘Is it okay to be on the bench?’ and I replied, ‘I don’t like that.‘ Moreno is tactically excellent, and he creates an environment where we can talk openly.”
I touched on this in our previous post, but striker Oh Se Hun also noted how quickly Moreno built trust by connecting on a personal level, mentioning that the coach surprised him by immediately congratulating him on the recent birth of his child.
Lee Dong Gyeong:
The coach said just one thing to me: ‘You have plenty of time to score a goal, so go out and enjoy it.’ During the meeting when I was first called up, he told me that I would play in the second striker position. It’s a position I also play at Ulsan. Because of that, I think I was able to approach the match with a more comfortable mindset,” he explained, revealing that playing in the same position for the national team as his club was the secret to his goal
Kim Min Su: also expected to be a beneficiary of a manager like Moreno (though any manager would’ve picked a player of the season candidate for Rangers FC). In his interview on KFA TV he recounts Moreno greeting him with a warm “Bienvenidos” along with a lighthearted joke scolding him for showing up a bit late (he was the last to arrive given his club schedule). More importantly, right before sending him on for his debut, Moreno kept it simple: “그냥 즐겨” (Just enjoy it). No heavy tactical overloads right at the whistle, just encouragement to soak in the moment. Also helps that for Kim Min Su (as with Lee Kang In), he speaks fluent Spanish having grown up there since age 10. He noted that Moreno broke down a winger’s specific tactical details and structural duties with incredible clarity, making it much easier to digest on short notice (things we NEVER WOULD’VE GOTTEN FROM HMB – THE ONLY THING HE TELLS THE TEAM IS “FIGHT”).
And from our prior post on Moreno:
Moreno’s Camp So Far: A Modern Contrast to Klinsmann and HMB
The atmosphere around Paju and Cheonan feels fundamentally different this time. Where Jürgen Klinsmann was criticized for a laissez-faire, “go play free” management style and Hong Myung-bo faced backlash over rigid, passive 3-back setups, Moreno is bringing relentless data-driven, European tactical structure. Unlike prior managers, there are clear tactical instructions. Every single player was interviewed individually, he knew personal details, and even game individual players individualized training schedules. Players in camp have reported highly structured, situational walkthroughs. Moreno isn’t overloading players with complex theory given the short window; instead, he has clearly defined simplified, strict positional roles for every phase of play. And continuing with the trend of demonstrating surprising homework, Moreno showed an intimate knowledge of Korean football administration during interviews, including the intricacies of Gimcheon Sangmu’s military service rotation. During the Chuseok holiday window, he publicly rallied fans and players, emphasizing “passion, fighting spirit, and dedication” to heal the World Cup hangover.
The Revelation of Kim Bong Soo
Kim Bong Soo impressed with concise ball distribution, optimal passing tempo, excellent priority ordering in his passes, and advanced spatial awareness, orchestrating third-man combination plays effectively.
Who is Kim Bong Soo anyway? He has actually been a relative regular on the KNT and youth setups, making his KNT debut back in 2025 in the EAFF against China, but never was too favored by any manager to have a prominent role – yet. Born in 1999, Kim came up through the collegiate ranks (Gwangju University) before launching his professional career with Jeju United in 2021. He quickly established himself as a trusted utility man, making close to 100 appearances for Jeju before completing his mandatory military service stint with Gimcheon Sangmu (2024–2025). Following his discharge, he moved to Daejeon Hana Citizen, where he has continued to anchor the midfield. He plays defensive midfielder, central midfielder, and CB, perhaps contributing to why he is heavily favored by Moreno (for the same reasons I expect Lee Gi Hyeok to be heavily favored by Moreno as well).
It has been a very long time – if not decades, since we had a defensive midfielder impress on the KNT. It’s been our weakest position for some time – the dominance of deep lying playmaker Ki Sung Yong made it less of a problem, but since his retirement from the national team, the midfielders next to Ki’s successor Hwang In Beom have been disappointment after disappointment. It’s too early to say Kim Bong Soo is our next DM, but his showing was so good he will 100% get chances to prove himself in the coming friendlies.
Uruguay Preview
Diego Forlan, new manager of Uruguay’s national team, did not have a great start losing 3-1 to Japan, although it was very close up until 90′ – Japan scored twice in extra time as Uruguay took their foot off the pedal. He will be hungry to get his first win – and perhaps even to get back at Lee Kang In who “injured” Valverde (he was totally fine after the challenge in the Madrid derby – is he really injured or did Real just want an excuse to not send a player away to Asia?)
For that reason, I’d personally not start LKI, but I have a feeling Moreno will start him because in the pre-match interview, LKI was at his side. And Uruguay being the toughest opponent of these four friendlies, I’d think we’d go for an otherwise full-strength lineup. I’m not entirely sure about left back (who is our strongest left back anyway? Lee Tae Seok? Jens if we are playing a makeshift 3 ATB anyway?) but the defense should be the same otherwise. Not sure about the wings (because Moreno might play Lee Kang In anyway), but the central midfield I’d expect Hwang In Beom and Kim Bong Soo (though Hwang reportedly might not be 100% fit before the game), and up top I’d expect Son and Oh to continue. Cho Gue Sung is not available – he wasn’t available for the Ecuador game either due to what seemed like a minor injury, but already went back to Midtjylland after it was clear he wouldn’t be available at all. No replacement was called up.
I’m only going to slot Minsu in here due to his fluency in Spanish – there’s a higher likelihood Lee Jae Sung fits in somewhere though. If Moreno was really ballsy he’d try a HIB-LJS pairing in midfield – something that has never worked on the KNT, but maybe it’s just because Klinsmann and HMB weren’t tactically disciplined enough to make it work?
Speaking of Lee Kang In – in Moreno’s prematch interview alongside Lee Kang In, he was asked how he would use Lee Kang In (he is a multi-positional player after all) and his response was refreshingly simple: “I will let him do what he always does [for club]”. Man. Having a normal manager is just so refreshing isn’t it? No more asking fullbacks to become wing-fowards. So nice…
What I expect from Lee Kang-in is for him to show the best side he displays at his club team in the national team as well. He is currently showing good form at his club and is performing exceptionally well in the Spanish League early in the season. Placing a player who is showing such top form in a different position would be a careless and reckless choice. I hope Lee Kang-in, just like his other teammates, enjoys himself and shows his best performance. We should enjoy his play
We are facing a strong team like Uruguay. Like the match against Ecuador, a tough game is expected with the opponent pressing hard. Since Uruguay lost their previous match, they will try to prove their true identity. Given that they are outstanding players, their determination to win is bound to be strong. A difficult match is expected. Therefore, we must show the very best of what our team has
Prediction: They will send some killer tackles our way (as they do EVERY game) but we will prevail on home soil. Oh Hyeon Gyu had a goal ruled offsides by the thinnest of margins in 2023 – he will be hungry to score one this time.
Join in the Tavern's conversations -Leave a comment...