It was not the usual question asked of a manager after defeat.

“The players just looked heavy. Were they collectively food-poisoned prior to the game? Or was there anything that happened that was out of your control? Otherwise, this was not an unacceptable performance by any standard.”

South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo, already looking shellshocked after his team’s 1-0 defeat by South Africa, responded to the Korean Broadcasting System reporter by saying: “The performance itself was not good. But we didn’t experience what you explain. I don’t want to blame such a reason because it didn’t happen. Out of three matches in the World Cup, we played the worst game today. That is true.”

That shock result in Monterrey, Mexico — in front of a crowd full of South Korean fans and with their captain and best-ever player Son Heung-min benched — pushed Hong’s team into third in Group A and led to a wait to find out if they would be in the round of 32.

On Wednesday night, The Athletic’s live projection tool put their chances of qualification at 94 per cent. By Saturday, they had been eliminated thanks to DR Congo’s 3-1 win against Uzbekistan in Group K and other third-placed teams achieving higher points totals or a better goal difference.

Hong was gone by Sunday, resigning in a hastily arranged press conference in Guadalajara, South Korea’s base for the tournament. He apologised to “all of the Korean people who love and support our national team”.

“Over the last two years, I’ve asked myself before making any decision,” the 57-year-old added. “Whether it was player selection, or any other important decision that I had to make, I asked if this is what’s best for Korean football. I cannot say that all of my decisions were right, but that was the standard that I’ve kept at all times.”

Hong Myung-bo announced his resignation as manager after crashing out at the group stage (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Hong was the captain of the 2002 team that finished fourth at the World Cup South Korea co-hosted with Japan, the country’s best result. But he steps down having overseen two disappointing World Cups as manager — in the other, in 2014, they finished bottom of their group in Brazil.

This one stings for different reasons. It was seen back home as a chance for a gifted generation of players — including Son, Paris Saint-Germain winger Lee Kang-in and Bayern Munich centre-back Kim Min-jae — to take South Korea to another level on the world stage.

In an interview with FIFA before the tournament, Hong spoke of becoming “one of the top teams rather than a side just capable of producing the occasional upset”. They had beaten Portugal to reach the last 16 in Qatar in 2022 and their memorable win against champions Germany in Russia (which still saw them eliminated from the group stage) happened eight years ago to the day of this year’s exit.

The feeling in South Korea is that this disappointment was inextricable from the South Africa defeat.

After an opening-day win against the Czech Republic and being narrowly beaten by co-hosts Mexico, victory or even a draw against South Africa would have guaranteed them a round-of-32 tie against Canada in Los Angeles — home to one of the world’s most concentrated populations of Koreans outside of East Asia.

Perhaps the most damning statistic was the 29.6 passes per defensive action (PPDA) figure South Korea allowed — their highest in any World Cup game going back to the 2018 tournament — pointing to a passive approach against a side ranked 23 places below them in FIFA’s standings.

“They were made to look like cowards,” Steve Han, a journalist who covered their progress in Mexico, tells The Athletic. “They’re at the lowest they’ve been since 1998 (when they conceded nine goals, scored twice and finished bottom of their group at the World Cup in France).”

South Korea fans watch on as their side slump to defeat by South Africa (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

The decision that sparked most surprise was Hong leaving Son — South Korea’s all-time record appearance maker and the best footballer in Asian history — on the bench. Goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu told reporters the squad found out that news during their pre-match meeting.

The manager explained afterwards that he had hoped 33-year-old Son could take advantage when South Africa were a “bit weaker”, profiting from gaps in their backline. But LAFC’s ex-Tottenham Hotspur forward came on at half-time and could not impact the game from a central role, where he has looked an awkward fit for club and country. Son didn’t elaborate on Hong’s decision to bench him in the stadium’s mixed zone but said: “I feel sorry I couldn’t help the team.”

It remains to be seen whether Son, who will turn 38 during the 2030 World Cup co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, will make it to that tournament. In a FIFA interview in May he said “this could be my last World Cup” — but later clarified he never said this would be his last World Cup.

The sight of Son walking around the pitch at full time with a bemused look would have been a sorry way for him to bow out. He failed to score in his three appearances in Mexico and his last World Cup goal was the one that confirmed that win against Germany in 2018. There is still January’s Asian Cup to come — a tournament he has only come close to winning, with South Korea finishing as losing finalists in 2015.

He wrote in an Instagram post on Monday: “This tournament was more precious to me than anything else, and seeing what I have always described as ‘the stage where a child’s dreams come true’ crumble before my eyes leaves me with an indescribable sense of heaviness and heartache.

“I will do my absolute best in my role to win back the hearts of the people of South Korea and football fans. I will give it my all to bring you joy once again. I have never forgotten the promises I made to you. Until you call for me, until you need me, I will pour my heart and soul into preparing myself properly once more.”

Son makes his way from the pitch following defeat by South Africa in Monterrey (David Ramos/Getty Images)

Previous internal tensions within the squad have been widely reported. At the 2024 Asian Cup, a physical altercation between players led to Son sustaining a dislocated finger. At its heart was a split between big-name players and the less experienced ones. When a group of younger players wanted to leave a team dinner early to play table tennis, Son objected and injured his finger in the melee that followed.

Nothing of that sort has yet emerged from this World Cup — and it all seemed to start perfectly.

There were smiles and sombreros when the team arrived in Guadalajara in June. A mariachi band played as they touched down in the birthplace of the Mexican musical genre, while Son and company were mobbed when spotted going out for tacos in the city.

The only public controversy was external to the team. After two South Korean journalists were recorded making disparaging comments about Son’s military service, the squad briefly refused to speak to their local media. A statement from the Korean Football Association (KFA) asked “media and members of the football community” to “unite in support so that the South Korean national football team can showcase its best performance on the World Cup stage”.

There was another strange incident before their game against Mexico in Guadalajara, when The Associated Press (AP) reported that a drone flying near to their training base had been destroyed by the Mexican military.

“It was right before we practised our tactics, so it did not impact us,” Hong said, in quotes carried by AP. “But while we were preparing for the match, that was the most important timing, so what happened was unfortunate.”

The wider question around South Korea’s exit is what it means for the KFA. The president of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, called for the country’s ministry of culture, sports and tourism to investigate the World Cup campaign in a social media post on Sunday. He said he was “utterly baffled” by the result and added that the KFA had not prioritised “competence” when choosing a leader, referring to the use of “significant national taxpayer funds”.

On Monday, South Korea’s minister for culture, sports and tourism, Chae Hwi-young, announced a “special audit of the KFA” that would examine “the root causes of the (team’s) devastating failure”. He said its findings would “serve as a painful lesson so that such incidents never occur again”.

KFA president Chung Mong-gyu was already due to step down after this tournament, referencing what he called “various controversies and criticism” during his time in charge in a statement provided to Reuters in May.

Chung had been criticised by fans for a perceived lack of transparency in the process of hiring Hong and his predecessor Jurgen Klinsmann. It escaped no one’s attention in South Korea that Jesse Marsch, once rumoured to have been in the running to take the job before Hong, guided Canada to the last 16 a day after their exit.

Commentating on the South Africa game for South Korean channel JTBC, the former national team captain and ex-Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung said “all the fault lies with those who run South Korean football”.

“The KFA should be revolutionised, and then it must have a clear and correct process to appoint the next head coach, which it failed to do in the past,” respected Korean football journalist Lee Sung-mo tells The Athletic. “That made this World Cup the worst ever for South Korea compared to the high expectations before the tournament.”

After South Korea’s last group-stage exit in 2018, fans threw eggs at the returning squad. This time, eight players eventually emerged at Incheon airport at close to 4am local time on Tuesday morning and were whistled and booed by onlookers amid a heavy police presence, with 160 officers reportedly deployed. Hong was immediately surrounded by a security detail. Local media said police were responding to an online death threat against him.

It was a far cry from the sombreros and mariachi songs in Mexico three weeks earlier.