Saturday's performance gave some South Korean fans yet another reason to take their frustration out on Jang. In South Korea's 1-0 loss to Sweden in their Group F opener in Nizhny Novgorod, Jang was criticized for his stray pass to left back Park Joo-ho, who ended up with a hamstring injury after trying to control Jang's long ball.

Some fans even pointed out it was Jang who was the starting point for surrendering a penalty kick. Before Kim Min-woo brought down Viktor Claesson in the box, the fans claimed that Jang's header clearance wasn't good enough and forced Kim to chase the ball after Claesson.

After the Sweden match, Jang even had to shut down his social media service account because of negative, critical comments on his page.

Some angry fans even filed an online petition to the presidential office, demanding national team officials axe Jang from the squad. Even some media outlets joined the move in calling Jang the main source of problems in South Korea's recent performances.

Jang, a veteran player with 53 caps, is one of head coach Shin Tae-yong's favorite defenders. Since Shin took the job last July, he has been one of the top three players in minutes played with the national team.

A national team official previously said Jang is trying not to read such negative comments and news reports on himself during the tournament so that he can stay focused. However, with the latest performance, it appears that he is likely to remain the talk of the town in the South Korean football community for quite a long time.

After the match, Son Heung-min defended his beleaguered teammate, saying it's not going to help the team if so many fingers are pointed at just one player.

"Everyone works hard to play well, and you can concede a goal even if you do well," he said. "For the second goal, I just think that player (Hernandez) played well. I just feel sorry for Jang because what he did was just trying to stop the opponent. I will try to help him recover his mental strength." (Yonhap)