2024-07-08 05:25:12
The Korea Football Association (KFA) has appointed Hong Myung-bo, the Ulsan HD coach, as the new head coach of the national football team. It has been a full five months since Jurgen Klinsmann was fired in February.
On the morning of the 8th, Lee Im-saeng, the technical director of the Korea Football Association, held a briefing at the Korea Football Association building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, regarding the appointment of Hong Myung-bo as head coach of the national team A, and announced that he had highly evaluated Hong Myung-bo’s leadership, experience, and achievements and had appointed him as the new head coach of the national team A.
After sacking manager Jurgen Klinsmann in February, the team has found a new manager after a full five months.
Coach Hong Myung-bo will soon finalize his contract with Ulsan and officially take up his post, and will coach the national team until the 2027 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in January.
Director Lee Im-saeng explained that Coach Hong was the right person for the job, citing as reasons the following: △conformity with the association’s game model, △appropriate game operation method, △leadership in creating one team, △continuity with national teams by age group, △previous achievements as a coach, △experience coaching the Korean national soccer team, △the national team’s tight schedule, and △issues with staying in the country.
First, Director Lee Im-saeng said, “Considering the game model pursued by the association, we judged that Coach Hong Myung-bo’s style of play was the most appropriate. In Ulsan, Coach Hong Myung-bo recorded 1st place in K-League chance creation, 1st place in scoring, 1st place in pressure intensity, and 10th place in activity level last year.” He highly evaluated Coach Hong’s coaching style, saying, “Argentina, the winner of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, was in the lower group in activity level. This provides a lesson for Korean soccer.”
The director said, “I thought that Coach Hong Myung-bo’s previous experience leading the national team, the under-23 (U23) national team, and the under-20 (U20) national team, as well as his broad perspective on administration as the association’s executive director, would also be helpful.”
He continued, “I also thought that the leadership that Coach Hong pursues is what Korean soccer needs right now. Coach Hong has been emphasizing ‘one team, one spirit, and one goal,’ and this is what the national team needs most right now.” He added, “He has an outstanding ability to create the one-team spirit that Korean soccer needs to maintain. Having previously experienced two foreign coaches (Bento, Klinsmann), I thought that our national team needs discipline within freedom.”
The association has nominated foreign coaches as candidates for the new coach along with domestic coaches including Hong Myung-bo. Accordingly, Director Lee Im-saeng left for Europe last week and returned after meeting with former Greek national team coach Gus Poyet and former Norwich City coach David Wagner.
However, the association and the outgoing director chose domestic coach Hong Myung-bo.
Director Lee Im-saeng said, “Coach Hong Myung-bo previously won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics and led Ulsan HD to two K-League championships. He has achieved more tangible results than the foreign coaches we have been nominated for.” He also emphasized that a domestic coach was more appropriate in the current situation, saying, “We also decided that it was necessary to appoint a domestic coach in order to link up with the national teams by age group and to identify K-League players.”
He said, “The third round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup North and Central America will begin in September. I judged that there is not enough time for a foreign coach to get to know the players until then.” He added, “I respect that all of the foreign coaches who were nominated have experience in big European leagues and have their own solid philosophies. However, it is difficult to say that they have achieved greater results than Coach Hong Myung-bo. I also judged that there is not enough time to properly apply their philosophies to the Korean national team.”
In addition, the length of stay in the country has also become an issue. Previously, Coach Klinsmann mainly resided overseas, causing a ‘controversy over attendance’.
Director Lee Im-saeng said, “I was not sure about the length of time foreign leaders would stay in the country. One candidate I met in Europe had no problem staying there, but the other one was difficult in this regard,” and explained, “I could not ignore the risk of staying in the country.”
Director Lee Im-saeng claimed, “You can criticize my shallow knowledge and experience, but there was no procedural problem in the appointment process. Chairman (Chung Mong-gyu) gave me full authority, so I made the decision on my own through a transparent process.”
Finally, Director Lee Im-saeng bowed his head to the Ulsan Hyundai team and its fans, who lost their manager in the middle of the season, by saying, “Even if I had ten mouths, I have nothing to say to the Ulsan team and Ulsan fans. I apologize to the Ulsan fans again. I will continue to cheer for Ulsan in the future.”
Reporter Kim Won-geun Photo News 1 DB
.
2024-07-08 05:25:12