A lot of things happen after each World Cup. The Asian Games happens shortly after, the Asian Cup is right after that, and at some point, we inevitably go through the nearly two-decade-undefeated “KNT Cycle” coined by yours truly:
Hence why I have planned a four-part series on the Korean football events to watch for in the remainder of 2026 and into early 2027:
The Asian Games
Summer Transfers
Reforming the KFA … for real this time?
The Asian Cup
In part one of the series, we focus on the Asian Games – a once-every-4-years mickey-mouse tournament for everyone in Asia EXCEPT for us. There are footballers who argue that the Asian Games is even more important than the Asian Cup, maybe even the World Cup. The latter is a stretch, but winning the Asian Games matters greatly to Korea. For those not in the know (which seems to be the vast majority of people based on very much uninformed Reddit posts I’m seeing – please do not trust everything you read on that site): Korean football is cursed by two things. One is a ridiculously corrupt FA, but the other is mandatory military service. The average football career starts in the late teens and ends in the early 30s. Korean footballers, unfortunately, are forced to lose 2-3 years to the military during their prime years. No European football club wants to suddenly lose their asset to compulsory military service, so this is a huge drag on our footballing talent pool and infrastructure.
There are three ways to get out of military service during your prime years:
Win gold at the Asian Games
Win a medal in the Olympics
Serve in the military as a teenager and get it out of the way early (the new trend)
We have won the last three Asian Games (2014, 2018, and 2022) and won Bronze at the 2012 London Olympics (at Japan’s expense, under Hong Myung Bo). This secured exemptions for all our best players in the last 10-15 years including Ki Sung Yong, Koo Ja Cheol, Son Heung Min, Kim Min Jae, Lee Kang In, etc. This is what allows our boys to move to Europe and develop into actual elite to world class players. Imagine if Son had to leave Tottenham in 2019 to do his military service? Or Kim Min Jae couldn’t move to Napoli because of military service? It’s frightening to think about, hence why getting military exemption for 23 players every 2-4 years is so important.
So how’s 2026 looking for us? Just from looking at the squad, things look promising. There is so much talent in this squad; at back we have we have highly rated and senior-KNT level CB Kim Ji Soo of Brentford FC; one of the best CBs in the K League in 20 year old Shin Min Ha; in the middle we have Kang Sang Yoon who traveled to the World Cup; and in attacking midfield we have way too many options, including household name Bae Jun Ho, Tottenham’s Yang Min Hyeok, Brighton’s Yoon Do Young, Newcastle’s Park Seung Soo, Girona FC’s Kim Min Su, double digit goalscorer for FC Arouca in Portugal Lee Hyeon Ju… seriously it’s amazing. But … there is a higher likelihood than ever before that we squander military exemption for a whole generation of incredible footballers…
Those of you who know already know, but if you don’t, I hate to be the bearer of bad news – coach Lee Min Sung might be even worse than Hong Myung Bo.
How did we get here?
Lee Min Sung, a KNT regular back in the late 90’s and early 2000s, was appointed U23 manager back in early 2025. He had various jobs as assistant managers before landing his first head coach role for Daejeon in December 2020. Things went well at first, even bringing Daejeon back into the K League first division for the first time in 8 years, and his first year at K1 was quite successful. But his second season in 2024 was very much not great, and by May he resigned (almost certainly under pressure to do so) with Daejeon dead last in the K League.
The he became U23 manager, and my gosh the results have been AWFUL. Unacceptable for Korea. LMS had a decent start in 6/2025 but after the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers ended, he has been embarrassed time and time again. Two consecutive friendly losses to Saudi Arabia, a loss to CHINA (unacceptable), crashing out of the U23 Asian Cup in humiliating fashion by losing convincingly, completely being outplayed, by Japan U21 (also unacceptable)… then had a series of friendlies in Korea where he lost 4-1 to United States U21. He made the excuse that he didn’t have his core European based squad with him. But in a tournament in Thailand consisting of us, Thailand, UAE, and Kyrgyzstan where he had a full strength squad at his disposal… he very nearly lost to THAILAND and actually lost to KYRGYZSTAN.
For context into how unbelievably unprecedentedly bad this is – even worse than us losing to South Africa at the World Cup – Korean youth squads over the past several decades used to always be at the top of Asia. Our youth teams actually fare better than the senior team does relative to their Asian peers – we’re the only U23 Asian side with an Olympic medal, we’re the only U20 Asian side to have made the U20 World Cup semifinals, and we did so twice consecutively (ok Japan got to the finals once in 1999 but that was forever ago). In 2019 we got to the finals and lost (this is when Lee Kang In won the golden ball) while in 2023 we got to the semis. Something we’ve repeatedly lamented here on the Tavern is that we have such promising youth teams and youth talent even relative to the world stage, yet we don’t have the football infrastructure to translate youth talent into professional talent. But that’s a discussion for another time.
Back to Lee Min Sung – his performances have been SO bad that although he was originally signed on a long term contract that would end after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the KFA (already mega corrupt) decided things were so dire they SHORTENED his contract to after the Asian Games. They’ve axed him from leading the 2028 Olympics generation and immediately hired successful U20 manager Kim Eun Jung (the guy that got us to 4th place in the U20 World Cup last time around) to be LMS’s replacement afterward.
Perhaps the KFA learned its lesson from the last time around, where Hwang Sun Hong managed to win the Asian Games but failed to even qualify for the Olympics, a first in over 50 years for Korea – absolutely unacceptable and disgraceful. He lost to Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the U23 Asian Cup (need to make the semis and get top 4 to qualify) despite possessing a vastly superior European based team on paper. Hwang Sun Hong, like Lee Min Sung, turned out to be an unbelievably bad manager just like Hong Myung Bo. Makes you realize that the Japanese media outlets, criticizing our national team ex-legends for going on TV or YouTube instead of studying how to coach or manage a team, have a point.
I digress yet again – the official Asian Games squad was announced yesterday:
It’s not too surprising but there are a few points of controversy, as always when it comes to Lee Min Sung’s squad selections
Calling up military exempted players: this one is baffling. The whole point of the Asian Games is to get exemption for our most promising footballers. Why are we calling up so many guys who already have exemption? Lee Young Jun served in the military before his move to Switzerland. Kim Jun Hong and U20 World Cup Bronze Ball winner Lee Seung Won (really sucks that him and Choi Seok Hyeon didn’t follow their fellow tourney standouts Bae Jun Ho and Kim Ji Soo to Europe) likewise already completed their two years. Why are we calling up guys like this when we have perfectly good replacements for them? Is Lee Min Sung so aware that his legacy is in danger that he wants to call up the strongest squad possible? I don’t know what the reason is, but it is taking away potential military exemption from other guys who deserve it.
Wild cards: like with the Olympics, in the Asian Games we get to pick 3 “wild card” footballers who are above the age of 23. It’s a great way to fill gaps in the squad, in areas where we have relatively less talent. Lee Min Sung decided to go with Lee Gi Hyeok, Yang Hyun Jun, and Eom Ji Sung – all World Cup members. Lee Gi Hyeok makes sense – he proved himself on the international stage starting all three games for Korea and was one of our better performers throughout. He 100% is ready for a move to Europe, and a left footed CB who can also play DM is very valuable for our Asian Games chances, even for European teams where left footed CBs and DMs in general are very scarce. Considering that this team already has Kim Ji Soo and Shin Min Ha, and that we picked literally 0 defensive mids (you could argue Hwang Do Yoon is a DM but Kang Sang Yoon and Lee Seung Won most definitely are not), and that Lee Gi Hyeok was listed in the MF section not the DF section, we will likely see him as our starting DM, presumably alongside Kang Sang Yoon.
Yang Hyun Jun and Eom Ji Sung’s inclusions are causing some controversy. On one hand, they deserve exemption. They are starters for their respective clubs in Celtic FC and Swansea City, and we don’t want their development to stall because of military service. On the other hand, we have so much depth in the winger/attacking midfield position. Bae Jun Ho, Kim Min Su, Lee Hyun Ju, Yang Min Hyeok, Yoon Do Young, and Park Seung Soo are all U23 players capable of handily beating AFC level opposition. To pick two wingers means inevitably not calling up one or more of those above players. And that’s exactly what happened:
No Kim Min Su?No Yoon Do Young either? Minsu is arguably the AM/winger who will feel the most disappointed by his exclusion. He had a breakout season in the Spanish second division where he established himself as the team’s ace, made 40 appearances and scored 6 goals. Meanwhile, Yang Min Hyeok had a great time at Portsmouth first half of last season, but essentially played 0 minutes for Coventry in the 2026 half of last season. Yoon Do Young plays in the second division of the Netherlands (now second division Germany), and Park Seung Soo plays for Newcastle U21. Bae Jun Ho is undoubtedly the ace of the attacking midfield/winger line, but Minsu was probably #2 in line, fighting for that spot with a very in form Lee Hyun Ju. The weakest of the attacking midfield line was thought to be Park Seung Soo considering 1) he’s the youngest 2) he doesn’t even play professional football in Europe yet (hopefully he does this season though, but it’s looking unlikely) 3) he has very little U23 experience, having been called up to the team just once 4) he so young (2007) that he is eligible to play in the Asian Games in 2030.
Some consolation is that Minsu and Yoon Do Young are 2006 so they will be eligible for the Olympics with Kim Eun Jung. But medaling in the Olympics is much harder than getting gold at the Asian Games, even if it is with a better coach. I would be very unhappy if I were either of these two guys.
Other notable exclusions: U23 regulars and K League talents Seo Jae Min of Incheon and Kang Seong Jin of Suwon were excluded, as did FC Seoul’s 18 year old midfield prodigy Son Jung Beom, who actually starts for FC Seoul ahead of Hwang Do Yoon who actually made the squad. The former two will have to get called up as wild cards in the Olympics (low likelihood), which is extra tragic, while Son Jung Beom at least has a shot at the 2030 Asian Games. Son Jung Beom and Seo Jae Min (both CMs) will be especially disappointed that Lee Min Sung chose Lee Seung Won, who already has military exemption and is more of a benchwarmer for Gangwon, over them.
Also, NT starting LB Lee Tae Seok will also be gutted he didn’t make it as a wild card. He is 23 (BARELY ineligible for the Asian Games as a regular U23 member), so he will need to be picked as a wild card for the Olympics (relatively high likelihood) or the 2030 Asian Games for military exemption.
Threats:
Normally we can confidently say we have a high likelihood of winning the Asian Games but there’s two factors that make this year extra difficult. The first is Lee Min Sung. Hopefully I’ve conveyed how unbelievably bad his results have been so far.
The second is Japan. Normally, Japan is not a problem for us in the Asian Games. We play with military exemption on the line and go all out with anyone who needs exemption (in 2018 we had Son Heung Min, Kim Min Jae, and prime Hwang Ui Jo). They field a U21 team in preparation for the Olympics. Unsurprisingly considering that we always bring the strongest team in the tournament by a country mile, we’ve even beaten them in the final twice in a row. Unfortunately, this year is different. Japan intends to field a full strength U23 team given that the Asian Games this year is held in Aichi and Nagoya. They normally view the Asian Games as prep for the Olympics but the FA explicitly states they want to win it this time. And Japanese football is progressing way faster than ours. Unlike previous years, their U23 team is also filled with guys playing in Europe. The Japanese roster is not out yet but we will certainly not have a leaps and bounds stronger team on paper. Unfortunately, this Japan factor, combined with an absolutely uninspiring manger, this puts our chances of military exemption at great risk.
Best case scenario Lee Min Sung figures things out and our quality is sufficient for us to take gold, but this year might be more contested than ever before. I wouldn’t be too surprised if we crash out in the semifinals or something to some random Central Asian team… I’d be livid, but not too surprised given how things are going.
My guess for the starting XI: All bets are off when it comes to Lee Min Sung but based on his wild card picks, I guess we’re seeing this?
What’s next
The group stage draw happens in Nagoya on 7/23.
The team convenes in early September 2026 ahead of the first group stage match on September 15th. The final is held on October 3rd. The Asian Games are notoriously grueling schedule-wise with 2-3 days of rest between games. Rotation and player management is always very important; unfortunately, Lee Min Sung has been shown to be very inept at this during the recent U23 Asian Cup.
It is expected that we will not schedule any friendly matches, but rather hold closed doors matches with K League reserve sides. But this could change at any time.
Finally, the next post: summer transfers. To be published soon.
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