The Korean national team successfully advanced to the group stage with a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic. At that time, Hwang In-beom's performance and Son Heung-min's fighting spirit shone, showing off the potential of Asian soccer, which served as an opportunity to boost the team's confidence along with a rise in the FIFA rankings. However, the second match against the host country, Mexico, forced them to face a harsh reality. Due to a fatal mistake by the defense in the second half, they suffered a 0-1 defeat and missed the opportunity to advance to the round of 32 early. In the subsequent game against South Africa, they also lost 0-1 and ended up with a rather poor record of 1 win and 2 losses. Coach Hong Myung-bo attempted an unconventional change by excluding Son Heung-min from the starting lineup in the game against South Africa, but the chronic problem of lack of decision-making ability and the inability to overcome the opponent's strong defensive wall resulted in the team being pushed to third place in the group.

As the number of participating countries has increased in this World Cup, the 'wild card' opportunity will be given to the 8 teams with the best performance among the 3rd place teams in the 12 groups. Korea is currently engaged in a fierce battle of wits with the third-place competitors from other groups with a record of 3 points and -1 goal difference. The situation would have been much worse if Mexico had not won the match between Mexico and the Czech Republic held at the same time, or if the Czech Republic had lost by a larger score. Fortunately, Mexico defeated the Czech Republic 3-0, allowing Korea to avoid the worst-case scenario of elimination and keep its hopes of advancing to the round of 32 through a wild card. This means that Korea's minimum lifeline is maintained amid complex calculations such as points, goal difference, multiple goals, and fair play points.

Outside of the game, issues with broadcasting rights and changes in viewing platforms have become big issues. Due to the lack of terrestrial broadcasting rights, Naver Chijijik established itself as the exclusive broadcasting platform, and even though it was a weekday morning, each game attracted close to 4.8 million concurrent users. This is an indicator that a new sports viewing culture using mobile devices has taken root, and at the same time, it has become a test bed to see how streaming technology can stably handle large-scale traffic. In addition, individual streamers' 'Watch Together' broadcasts gained widespread popularity, diversifying the fun of watching sports, and the introduction of a technological low-latency mode that provided viewers with an uninterrupted sense of immersion was another highlight of this tournament.

The tactical concerns of the national team led by coach Hong Myung-bo are expected to deepen as they advance to the round of 32. The three-back-based formation was chosen for defensive stability, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in the offensive line's decisiveness and linkage play. In particular, utilizing key resources such as Son Heung-min and flexible player replacement according to the flow of the game are essential elements to achieve victory on the tournament stage. Experts analyze that if Korea advances to the round of 32, there is a high possibility that it will encounter strong contenders for the title, such as Germany, which ranks first in Group E, and point out that the most urgent need is to refine counterattack tactics against strong teams. In order to overcome memories of the past and write a new history, including the possibility of a rematch against Switzerland for the first time in 20 years, recovery of each player's condition and improvement of team tactics must be supported.