There was no laughter in the faces of the national soccer team players who had their first training session under interim coach Hwang Sun-hong. As if aware of the controversy over the failure of the Asian Cup in Qatar, the gate to the table tennis court, and the card game during the off-season training, both coach Hwang and players refrained from engaging in media activities and quietly engaged in training sessions. Hwang announced his plan to reduce media activities in the future and return fans' support with better performance.
Ahead of the second round of the 2026 North-China World Cup regional qualifying home match against Thailand on the 21st, the first call-up training session was held at Goyang Stadium on the 18th since Hwang Sun-hong's transition to the interim head coach system. At a time when attention was focused on various controversies, the players did not take part in pre-interviews before the training, and Hwang alone played a short interview of around five minutes. Even though it was the first training, the training's public time was only 15 minutes, half of the existing public time.
Amid silence and silence, players were seen stretching in groups of two. Greeting reporters first, the atmosphere was quite different from the Asian Cup in Qatar, where conversations and laughter continued throughout the training. "Players will not participate in pre-training interviews other than official press conferences," said an official from the Korea Football Association. "There was Hwang's request." There will be no open training or uniform promotion activities that were held after A-match in Korea.
Coach Hwang said, "I think we need to do our best to make up for the disappointment, and I saw you feel a lot of pressure when talking to the players even though it was a short time," adding, "I hope the players will focus on preparing for the game and help them play."
The call-up training drew more attention as the comment that Son Heung-min (32, Tottenham), the captain of the national team, had also considered quitting the national team after the Asian Cup was revealed following various controversies. Son Heung-min said in an interview after a regular league match against Fulham on the 17th, "If I were the only one who thought about it, I might quit the national team, but I have a commitment with the fans, and I have a responsibility to play the national team until the end as long as I can."
In response, Hwang said, "What I say is important, but I also want to hear what you think," adding, "I will find a way to raise the mood of the martyrdom through dialogue." In the meantime, he predicted that the captaincy of Son Heung-min will continue in the future. Regarding how to use Lee Kang-in (23, Paris Saint-Germain), who was criticized for his physical conflict with Son during the Asian Cup, he said, "I can't say it now, but it's a matter to decide based on the player's condition."
Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae (28, Bayern Munich), and Hwang In-beom (28, Zvezda) did not participate in the training as they arrived at 3 p.m. on the same day. European players such as Lee Kang-in and Cho Kyu-sung (26, Mitte Whelan) were also scheduled to enter the country on the 19th and were excluded from the training. 메이저 토토사이트
With only 17 people in total participating in the training, Hwang Sun-hong's appearance as a whole is expected to be confirmed at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 20th. Attention is also being paid to whether the players will express their positions on various controversies after the Asian Cup.