Hong Myung-bo's Full Squad Faces Its Final Puzzle Before the Push to Mexico... A Final Dress Rehearsal Against El Salvador!

\r\n
[The Financial News] Hong Myung-bo's squad, which has been catching its breath in the highlands of Utah to chase a historic first-ever away quarterfinal berth, will finally take the field for its last test before the real battle. With Lee Kang-in of PSG, who completed all of his European schedule and joined the national team last, the 26-man puzzle the bench had envisioned is now fully complete.
The South Korea national football team, led by Hong Myung-bo, will play its final official warm-up match before the World Cup finals against El Salvador at 10 a.m. on the 4th at Brigham Young University's South Field in Provo, Utah. Played at an altitude of 1,460 meters, this final match will be the only sparring stage to bring together everything the team has built in training and push its cohesion to the limit before it moves to its base camp in Guadalajara, Mexico, on the 5th.
The 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago left the bench with both confidence and homework. Son Heung-min of LAFC and Cho Gue-sung of FC Midtjylland, both of whom had been struggling for goals at their clubs, each scored twice to show that the team's firepower up front remains intact. Lee Ki-hyuk of Gangwon FC, a surprise call-up on defense, offered a new option for Hong's back-three system with a spotless defensive performance. Although a major setback hit when defensive anchor Cho Yu-min of Sharjah FC was ruled out with a plantar fascia tear, replacement call-up Jo Wi-je of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC quickly settled into the squad, saying, "I will run for Yu-min hyung too," and eased the bench's concerns.
\r\n\r\n
The most welcome news was the complete return of midfield commander Hwang In-beom of Feyenoord Rotterdam after injury. After a long layoff, Hwang controlled the game for 30 minutes in the second half of the previous match and brought stability to the team's spine with his trademark command of the midfield. The El Salvador match will be a prime opportunity not only to assess Hwang's match fitness, but also to examine the synergy of the midfield pairing he will form with Lee Jae-sung of 1. FSV Mainz 05.
This match against El Salvador is centered on a thorough internal tactical check. The opponent, ranked 100th in the FIFA rankings, failed to qualify for the finals, but it is the ideal stage to test Hyeon-gyu Oh of BJK as a starter after his recent run of eight goals in official matches for his club, and to confirm Lee Kang-in's ability to adapt to high-altitude conditions in a real game. In particular, the key point to watch in this dress rehearsal will be the variety of attacking routes created when Son Heung-min moves to his natural position on the left wing and Hyeon-gyu Oh leads the line.
\r\n\r\n
The off-field mind games have also come to an end. According to the jersey numbers officially announced by FIFA on the 2nd local time, captain Son Heung-min will wear the symbolic No. 7 as he chases the all-time scoring record alone. Lee Kang-in will wear No. 19 and Kim Min-jae will keep No. 4, while Hyeon-gyu Oh has been assigned No. 18, following in the striker lineage of his senior teammates. Hong Myung-bo's squad, which had shuffled jersey numbers at random in the previous match to confuse opposing analysts, will now take the field with its real weapons in place.
Opta Sports' supercomputer gave South Korea a relatively high 70.35% chance of advancing to the round of 32 and predicted that the team would finish second in the group. But numbers are only predictions. In the end, victory and defeat at the finals will depend on the sweat and cohesion the players produce on the pitch.
At the decisive gateway to Mexico, the promised land, Hong Myung-bo's now-complete squad will try to prove its perfection through one final mirror in El Salvador.
jsi@fnnews.com Jeon Sang-il Reporter