The South Korea national football team lost 0-1 to Mexico in the second match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup North and Central America group stage. Coach Hong Myung-bo's team failed to build on their win against the Czech Republic. In the match against Mexico, Korea conceded the first goal due to a mistake by goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu in the 5th minute of the second half. After that, Korea actively used substitution cards, such as calling in Son Heung-min and Lee Jae-sung in the 12th minute of the second half, to aim for an equalizing goal, but ultimately no goal was scored. Japanese media Junichi Sports watched the match between Korea and Mexico and made a painful diagnosis. 'With the current Korean football, it will be very difficult to score against strong teams,' they said. Korea tried to build on their momentum from the come-from-behind win against the Czech Republic, but conceded the first goal due to a fatal mistake. In the 42nd minute of the second half, Cho Gyu-sung's header in front of the goal and Yang Hyun-jun's second-ball shot were both blocked by the opponent's goalkeeper, leaving a sense of regret. Junichi Sports, which watched the match, reported that 'the match was a game where we could see the decisive difference between the Japanese and Korean teams, which have many comparable aspects.' The Japanese media pointed out the lack of numbers in the box in Korea's attack. 'In most cases, only one player from Korea infiltrated the penalty area of the opponent,' they said. In fact, Korea's best chance came when multiple players infiltrated the box. Junichi Sports noted that 'in the end, there were several good attacks, but the number of players who infiltrated the penalty box was only 2 or 3 at most.' They also claimed that Japanese football is different. 'In the 2022 Qatar tournament, Japan scored 2 goals each against Germany and Spain, winning 2-1 in both matches,' they explained. They also mentioned the match where they came from behind to beat Brazil 3-2. At that time, Japan's 5 players simultaneously applied strong pressure to induce Brazil's mistake, and scored an equalizing goal through it. In the match where they defeated England 1-0 for the first time in Asia in April, Mitooma Kaoru, Ueda Ayase, Nakamura Keito, and Kamada Daichi moved together to create the winning goal, according to the analysis. Finally, Junichi Sports emphasized that 'the defense of top-ranked countries in the FIFA rankings is highly organized, making it difficult to break through with individual abilities alone. Therefore, the quality of movement of players who do not have the ball is important.'