The Tavern Kickaround Returns: First vs Second Place in Group A, Transfer Rumors, a Defense of Hong Myung Bo, and More

It might have actually been over a decade since Roy’s old Tavern kickaround series (shoutout to the OGs who remember these) where we just talk about random talking points about Korean football, but there’s so much to discuss here that I think it’s about time we bring it back.

Table of contents:

• First place in Group A vs second place in Group A
• Lee Han Beom
• Transfer rumors
• Japan 4-0 Tunisia
• Hong Myung Bo’s tactics and player selection [to be updated slightly after publishing]

First place vs second place in Group A? Which is better?

Lots of discussion going on regarding whether it’s better for us to place first vs second in Group A. Not that it matters much because first place is impossible now, but I figured the Tavern should weigh in on this topic as well.

The situation: First place in the group (already guaranteed to be Mexico because even if they lose vs Czechia and we beat RSA putting both teams on 6 pts, they have the head to head advantage so we are going to get second) plays their Round of 32 match in the Azteca stadium on 6/30 against a third placed team from groups CEFHI.

• Group C is probably Haiti or Scotland over Morocco or Brazil
• Group E: probably Ivory Coast or Ecuador over Germany or Curacao (getting this one would be dangerous for us)
• Group F: probably Sweden, Japan, or Tunisia over the Netherlands
• Group H: probably Saudi or Cabo Verde over Spain or Uruguay
• Group I: the France Norway and Senegal group (another dangerous one)

Second place in our group gets the second-place team from Group B, which is looking like the loser of the Canada vs Switzerland match. We play on 6/28 in Los Angeles at Sofi Stadium, home grounds of Son Heung Min’s LAFC.

Pros and cons: So of course, there’s going to be a lot of discussion regarding the fact that our opponent looks easier if we get second, and we play in what will certainly be a home game. The downsides of getting second place is that 1) we lose momentum because we clearly had a loss or draw in there somewhere 2) we get less rest than getting first place, and less importantly but still perhaps significant, 6 hours less rest than our Group B rival whoever it may be. Whereas if we had gotten first place, we would be going into the RO32 with more momentum and would get 2 extra days of rest (6 days as opposed to 4 days). The downside being we may face Ecuador or Senegal or Sweden/Japan, which on paper would probably be more difficult than Canada or Switzerland.

My thoughts: Unless it’s very obvious that getting 2nd is better than getting 1st (which is not the case here – there is a chance of Scotland or Cabo Verde), I do not believe in trying to get second intentionally. You want to win your games, verify that your plan of attack works, and go into the RO32 with momentum and confidence. Things like this Mexico loss where we lose on a fluke can be detrimental to our mentality. I believe we can shrug this off to move forward and play as well as we can vs South Africa, but it really would’ve been great to beat Mexico for the first time in a World Cup, carry that momentum into game 3, and go into our RO32 match with our spirits high, even if it’s against a slightly better team on paper but one that clearly struggled in the group stage by getting third place.

So while maybe we get a slightly easier team on paper, it’s not guaranteed and it’s not by much. In the words of Lee Kang In, we play to win. Every team should play to win. End of story.

Lee Han Beom

Lee Han Beom I have ALWAYS said is our second-best defender in the KNT. Some people didn’t believe me, and I feel kind of vindicated now. He is clearly a VERY good CB, performed near flawlessly against Czechia and Mexico, and is looking like one of our “breakout stars” per se alongside Lee Gi Hyeok, who I also really hope will move to Europe this summer.

Lots of transfer rumors right now regarding LHB, confirmed by an interview from Midtjylland’s sporting director. LHB has only 1 year left on his contract so there is a very high chance that he will indeed leave this summer (otherwise he can refuse an extension and leave on a free). The Midtylland sporting director didn’t specifically name any clubs, but there are lots of clubs being thrown around by various news outlets with the ones I’ve seen being Liverpool, Chelsea, and Leeds. The one that seems most concrete so far is from an Italian source Il Mattino (from my cursory Googling quite credible) claiming that Napoli is interested in LHB alongside a few other defenders like Lucas Herrington of Australia/Colorado Rapids (MLS) and Federico Gatti of Italy/Juventus. Would be really cool to see him at Napoli following in the footsteps of his idol! And yes, I used that word intentionally – in the Shoot for Love interviews with LHB during their Man in Europe campaign where Park Ji Sung and Patrice Evra went around to KPA clubs handing out free Korean coffee and snacks, he very specifically named KMJ as his idol and says he watches KMJ highlights as inspiration before games.

Other players who I am hoping will make transfers to bigger clubs:

• Lee Gi Hyeok: dude is so ready for Europe given how well he’s doing in the World Cup. I really hope he doesn’t move to Ulsan Hyundai who are reportedly moving for him or Jeonbuk Hyundai
• Hwang In Beom: he is LONG overdue to for a move to the top leagues. Age and being injury prone might hinder this though
• Seol Young Woo: for a long time they’ve said he is going to move away from Serbia to the Bundesliga or PL but hasn’t happened yet. However, Hong Myung Bo using him as a wingback (a position he is not familiar with and has never really played) is not helping his cause

Lee Kang In’s blockbuster transfer

And then Lee Kang In. Fabrizio Romano specifically has come out on livestream and X saying that Lee Kang In’s transfer will be one of the biggest to watch this transfer market. Right now, it seems Atletico Madrid is the front runner. For context, Atletico has long admired LKI; they have been chasing him since his Mallorca days. Their technical director Mateu Alemany is the guy who promoted LKI to Valencia’s first team from the Mestalla. Their CEO wants access to Korea’s market after seeing how football crazy Korea was during their very successful and very lucrative Korea tour last summer. And most importantly, Diego Simeone has long been an admirer since 2022-23 and sees Lee Kang In as a successor to Antoine Griezmann. According to Marca and Rubén Uría (very reliable reporter for Atletico), Simeone reportedly sees parallels between LKI and a young Antoine Griezmann – LKI is obviously talented, and his PSG teammates openly acknowledge him as the most technically gifted on the team, but not QUITE world class just yet. Simone sees LKI as someone he can mold into one of the best in the world, just as he transformed a very talented but not-yet household name in Griezmann, at the time playing as a winger for Real Sociedad, into one of the world’s best. It also helps that 1) Atletico is in dire need of a creative midfielder, with Griezmann retiring and Thiago Almada and Alex Baena struggling to fill the creative midfield role (Almada at least is reportedly set to leave the club), and 2) LKI can whip in crosses to Sorloth who is essentially an upgraded version of Vedat Muriqi and Cho Gue Sung, tall target men great at headers whom LKI has such great telepathy with. Atletico tried to sign him last summer as well as this past winter (their agents actually met with PSG in December and tried to work a deal) but each time Luis Enrique reportedly blocked the deal (then proceeds to give LKI 0 minutes in the Champions League final…)

More recently there have been whisperings that Real Madrid and Barcelona want to hijack the deal with Deco reportedly in talks with PSG and LKI’s agents, but I’m not so sure if that’s a good idea. Barcelona’s too congested in midfield just like PSG, and at Real, he has to deal with Mourinho ball (not his style of play, just like how he is not the best fit for Enrique’s style of play) as well as what is currently seeming like a toxic fanbase and locker room.

A Defense of HMB:

We here at the Tavern were great skeptics of HMB since his appointment and especially in the past year. The tactics clearly did not work well and ever since the USA and Mexico games when we introduced this 3-4-3, we’ve been exceptionally poor even when we won. We were still experimenting our last friendly before the WC against El Salvador, and that game wasn’t particularly inspiring either.

But against Czechia and Mexico, we prepared well and played the way we wanted to play. I don’t need to say much about the Czechia match but even against Mexico. There’s a video from Shoot for Love with Kim Dong Jun (aka Jam), Park Ji Sung, and Yang Min Hyeok where Park Ji Sung says EXACTLY what I’ve been saying on the Tavern on our Mexico recap and our player ratings (in this case the managerial rating):

We have to quickly forget about this loss. If we play well against South Africa, we can advance. … We clearly prepared better against Czechia and Mexico than we did in the friendlies before the World Cup. We have time before the third match. … South Africa also has to win, otherwise they have no hope of advancing. They will come out more attack minded, which is advantageous for us. Mexico sat back so we had difficulties creating chances.

Yeah so there you have it, Park Ji Sung agrees with me.

It is not entirely Hong Myung Bo’s fault that we struggled in attack. It is not his fault we conceded in this way. The subs were correct (going more offensively with the wingbacks and taking out our more tired attacks). I even agree with his more cautious approach; Mexico was also more cautious as well. It seemed that both sides were playing conservatively and for a draw, which is totally understandable on our end considering we were playing the World Cup hosts (guaranteed to get favorable calls) and our strongest group rival. In my earlier Mexico recap I also defended the Son Heung Min substitution, though I do think that there is a logical argument on the side of “he was subbed too early.” If I had to nitpick anything it’d be that we spent just a bit too long passing between the 3 CBs when we needed to get the ball up ASAP (further evidence that the players wanted 2nd place not first place in the group?), and the usual critique of using defensive fullbacks so aggressively. I pointed this out as a criticism previously, but I’ve come around to the idea of “ok maybe we needed more defensive fullbacks against a team like Mexico so we couldn’t necessarily use Jens against an inevitably-going-to-be-biased ref who gives out a lot of cards.” A much more in depth discussion on our fullback options is upcoming in our South Africa preview.

Personally, I’m just so relieved that we are looking so much better in the World Cup than we did in the friendlies. There are a LOT of Koreans and Korean diaspora that ONLY watch during the World Cup, which is why I think the soccer community is a little bit less angry right now than the general public who is not happy with the loss (I get it), and not happy with certain players like Seol Young Woo – criticism towards him is NOT deserved! He is in an unfamiliar role he is not comfortable with.

One thing that comes up is that Japan uses the same 3-4-3 but they play way better than us. Even HMB had this to say about that and I totally agree with him:

Japan did not get to where they are overnight. They are seeing results now after at least 30 years of preparation. I am envious of their long-term plan and system in which a manager holds the position for a long time. On the other hand we always change things.

There is a hint of personal complaint with the bit about a manager staying on for a long time, but it’s true. Japan has had the same coach since 2018. The only time we had a coach for 4 years in a row was Bento; every 4 year WC cycle we usually have 3 managers and they all play differently, while Japan has had the exact same strategies and playing style for decades from the grassroots up. That’s why their play is so precise, coordinated, and telepathic – IF ONLY PEOPLE WOULD LISTEN TO ME RE: HOW TO BEAT THEM! If the players all play the same way, then there is a VERY clear way to beat them but it seems that our Tavern message is on getting across… Speaking of which:

Japan 4-0 Tunisia:

I was hoping Tunisia had it in them to use my patented “vs Japan cheat code” which is “long ball to a big physical striker, hold up play, win the second ball, profit.” I really thought their few-days-old manager Herve Renard, being a AFC guy for so long, knew that. I didn’t watch the match but from what I’m hearing Tunisia did NOT do that, and also sucked really bad – not surprising considering they JUST fired their coach mid-World Cup.

For all my fellow KNT supporters, do not be too butthurt. OK I am butthurt that they were the first team from the AFC to score 4 goals in a World Cup (hence why I really want us to hit 5 against RSA) and I have been very butthurt about all the extreme levels of Japan glazing that has been going on for the last several years. But that aside, with this game, I think to those classic funny English football fan chants:

It’s only four nil,
It’s only four niiiiiiil,
How shit must you be!
It’s only four nil!

Or

We lose evey week,
We lose every weeeeek,
You’re nothing special!
We lose every week!

They really ARE nothing special – JURGEN KLINSMANN of all people beat Tunisia 4-0 back in October 2023.

So heads up high my Korean brothers and sisters, may we smash RSA 5-0 next week!