Coaching the national team for a second World Cup, Hong faces echoes of Brazil 2014 group-stage exit South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo stands on the sidelines during his team's Group A match against South Africa at the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Monterrey Stadium in Guadalupe, Mexico, on Wednesday. (Yonhap) Head coach Hong Myung-bo took responsibility for South Korea's 1-0 loss to South Africa in the group-stage finale that left the team's World Cup hopes hanging in the balance on Wednesday."On a stage as big as this, the head coach is responsible for all the results," Hong said at his post-match press conference. "Ultimately, I made the wrong decisions that led to this outcome."Following the loss at Monterrey Stadium in Guadalupe, northeastern Mexico, South Korea finished third in Group A with three points from one win and two losses.The team must now wait until the remaining groups complete their matches and the final third-place standings are determined on Sunday. While the top two teams from each group advance automatically to the knockout stage, the eight best third-placed teams among the 12 groups will also earn berths in the Round of 32.Wednesday's defeat left Hong with an overall World Cup coaching record of one win, one draw and four losses across his two tournaments in charge of South Korea. He previously coached the Taegeuk Warriors at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where they finished at the bottom of Group H with one point and were eliminated in the group stage.He became the South Korean head coach with the most World Cup defeats, surpassing the previous record of three World Cup losses set by Lee Hoe-taik at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.Heading into the match against South Africa, in which a draw would have been enough to send South Korea into the knockout stage, Hong made the unexpected decision to leave captain Son Heung-min on the bench and bring him on after halftime.It marked the first time Son, who was appearing in his fourth World Cup, dating back to the 2014 tournament in Brazil, began a World Cup match on the bench.Asked about the decision, the coach said, "I felt it would be better to bring Son on after the first 45 minutes, when more space would open up, rather than start him against an opponent that is physically strong from the outset."Asked about his decision to replace center back Kim Min-jae with Park Jin-seop midway through the second half, Hong said the substitution was necessitated by Kim's calf injury.Hong’s situation, in his second World Cup at the helm and facing the risk of another disappointing early exit, has drawn comparisons with Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu, who is also the first coach in Japanese football history to lead the national team at two World Cups, having managed Japan at the 2022 tournament in Qatar and this year’s competition in North America.Japan's 4-0 victory over Tunisia on Sunday marked Moriyasu's third World Cup win as head coach, following 2-1 victories over Germany and Spain in Qatar.