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Hong bemoans South Korea defending

#INSERT type:image caption:Yacine Brahimi celebrates after scoring Algeria's fourth goal of the game. END#

South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo feels his side only have themselves to blame for the 4-2 defeat to Algeria.

- Duerden: Algeria expose soft South Korea

Hong's men found themselves 3-0 down by half-time, but despite briefly threatening to mount a comeback, the North Africans never really looked in danger.

South Korea now need to beat Group H leaders Belgium to stand any chance of progressing to the next round, and Hong believes his team have to improve the defensive side of their game if they are to stand any chance of advancing.

"It was a strategic mistake on our part since we conceded so many goals [against Algeria]," he told his postmatch news conference. "We were on the defensive, the defence was weak.

"Personally, I wanted the defensive players to be more stable. I could've thought about substituting the defensive players, but I wanted them to become stable and find themselves within the game.

"We did not defend wisely against Algeria's attacks. We still have one game left and I want my players to recover quickly for the next match. We will do our best until the very end and that's the only option we have left."

Hong added: "Today, we weren't as well organised as we could have been. There wasn't enough communication between our players. It's important for the defensive players to communicate between each other.

"It was a good experience and something we can learn from. We'll have to put that on the backburner and prepare for the Belgium match."

Despite finding the back of the net twice against Algeria, Hong feels South Korea have more to work on in the final third of the pitch too.

"We focused on creating chances, but we didn't have many in front of the goal. This was down to the lack of individual ability on the part of our players," he said.

"In the stadium, there were a lot of Korean fans and I would like to apologise to them. I would like to promise to them that we will do our best in the next match."