Seoul: Hong Myung-bo became the first Asian player to appear at four FIFA World Cups when he captained Korea Republic all the way to the semi-finals on home soil in 2002 in what remains one of the most unlikely stories in the tournament’s history.
With the final three rounds of qualifying fixtures set to kick off next week, the Koreans find themselves in a battle to secure a top-two place and automatic qualification to what would be the East Asians’ ninth consecutive appearance at the competition.
Ahead of the crucial away clash with bottom side Qatar, the-AFC.com caught up with Hong – who managed his national team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and has since coached in China – to discuss the current Korea Republic side, his memories of 2002 and a winning penalty that will live long in the memory.
Q: What have you made of Korea Republic’s qualifying campaign so far?
Although we’re in second place right now, I don’t think it will be a big problem to qualify for the World Cup. There are only a few points between Korea and the third and fourth-placed teams so maybe one game will decide who will qualify. We’ve already qualified for many consecutive World Cups so I believe we will overcome the current problem.
Q: Korea Republic have three games left, what do they need to do to qualify?
There’s one home game and two away games so we must get as many points as possible. The home game against Iran is the most important and we 100 percent have to get three points from this match. In the away games there are many unforeseen aspects and all the teams have similar capabilities so it is very hard, but we need to focus on the away games to get more points.
Q: You represented the national team at four FIFA World Cups, becoming the first Asian player to achieve such a feat, did you realise at the time how big that was?
It is such a high honour for a player to play in four World Cups and I’m very lucky to be that player. A World Cup is not somewhere where you represent yourself, you are representing your home nation so it’s a big honour. It’s a rare opportunity to be part of it.
Q: What are your memories of reaching the semi-finals in 2002 in Korea Republic?
It was unreal. Before the games, after the games, it was unbelievable. Unpredictable things happened and the whole country couldn’t have imagined that we would achieve what we did. Even now it feels unreal. In order to gain the results we did, we had to prepare a lot. The success was all because of our good preparation.
Q: Can you describe the feeling of scoring the winning penalty against Spain in the quarter-finals?
It was the most important goal in my career. I could never imagine I would have a moment like that in my life.
Q: You recently had a spell coaching in China, how would you assess the development of football there?
The environment in the country right now is very good. It’s under the spotlight of the whole world but it has the potential to improve and I really think China will do very well.
But there are still some big differences between Chinese football and football elsewhere. If you’re not involved, you can only see the surface and what I saw was there were still things to improve when it comes to educating the youth players.
Q: Looking back to your own younger years, did you always want to be a footballer and did you believe you could make it to such a high level?
Yes and no.
Q: Who’s been the biggest influence in your career?
There are many people I have to thank, like my first junior coach and my national team coaches, but the most important is my family who always supported me no matter what happened.
Q: Who was the best player you played with?
There were a lot. Hwang Sun-hong (pictured below), who’s now the head coach at FC Seoul. We spent a lot of time working and playing together and understood each other well.
Q: And the best player you’ve played against?
Klinsmann, Ronaldo… there were so many, but if I had to pick two it would be them. Ronaldo was so powerful and would strike so suddenly.
Q: What’s your biggest regret in football?
There were some bad memories as a player, but to overcome these problems I forgot everything and just made sure I did my best in the next game.
Q: You were named by Pele as being in the top 100 players in the world. How did that make you feel?
Of course it was a big honour and it also gives me a lot of motivation for my future walks in life.
Photos: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com