Daejeon: In the days leading up to his team's friendly match against Bolivia, South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo stressed that he would prioritize the result over the process. With the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup less than a month away, South Korea had to keep winning, with Ghana coming up next week, to at least stay at No. 22 in the FIFA rankings and avoid falling from Pot 2 to Pot 3 in the draw - in which case they would end up with potentially two top-20 opponents in the same group.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Hong's players took care of business by defeating Bolivia 2-0 at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in the central city of Daejeon. However, the process of getting there left much to be desired. Bolivia came in ranked 76th in the FIFA rankings, and the talent gap might have been even bigger on the field than on paper, since Bolivia were missing several veteran players and brought a youthful squad. And yet, it took South Korea some strong individual efforts by their two forwards, Son Heung-min and then his replacement Cho Gue-sung, to get past the heavy underdog.
South Korea's offense, featuring international veterans plying their trade in top leagues in England, France, and Germany, lacked flow against Bolivia's high pressing early on. Their best opportunity in the first half came off a corner kick taken by Son, with Lee Jae-sung's header turned aside by goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra in the 11th minute. When Bolivia wrestled control of the match in the latter stages of the first half, the South Korean defense often struggled to contain opposing attackers' forays into the dangerous area. Only poor finishes and strong saves by goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu kept Bolivia off the board.
Hong reverted to a back-four formation, following seven straight matches of playing a back-three setup. Against an energetic and physical opponent on Friday, though, the defensive line was lucky to escape with a clean sheet. Son scored a free kick curler in the 57th minute to let South Korea breathe a bit easier. Cho, subbing in for Son in the 76th minute for his first international match since March 2024, provided one of the few feel-good highlights of the night when he netted the add-on goal in the 88th minute. Even that goal was the result of some goalmouth scrambling, with Cho taking advantage of a falling Bolivian defender to get his left foot on the ball in the nick of time to make it a 2-0 match.
In goal, Kim turned in a performance to add more intrigue to the ongoing battle against Jo Hyeon-woo for the top job for the World Cup. Jo was the starter at the 2018 World Cup but Kim beat him for the gig four years later in Qatar. After Kim suffered a knee injury in January 2024, Jo grabbed the No. 1 job again. He had remained virtually unchallenged in that role until Kim returned to the mix in September. The two veterans had each made two starts over the past four matches before Friday. Jo could get a look against Ghana next week.