Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mercury]

I wonder why nobody wants to coach the dynamic korea team???

Did you know that Hiddink was hated at the start?? The press kept showing photos of him with his girlfriend and they were showing affection, and the press tore him apart.
then comes Verbeek......

Pim Verbeek got all the flak whenever the team lost, no wonder he left.


Then they tried to get another "foreign" coach, both refused to sign up. A wise choice......If korea wins, you are the man, the second they lose, your dammmned.

Looks like they got their own man to fry this time.



Unknown waters: Is Huh Jung-moo the right man for the national team?




It is a situation familiar to all English soccer fans. The Football Association starts looking for a high-profile foreign coach for the national team, gets its fingers very publicly burnt, looks to home for a safe choice then appoints a man with success in cup competitions but a mediocre league record.
Steve McClaren's England didn't qualify for the 2008 World Cup but will Huh Jung-moo's Korea make it to South Africa in 2010? For the sake of the Korean Football Association, it had better.

It hasn't been the best of weeks for the KFA. It started with the expectation that, by Friday, a high-profile foreign coach would be appointed.

The first choice was former Liverpool, France and Lyon boss Gerard Houllier and the back-up was the English ex-Ireland manager Mick McCarthy. Instead, a man who took Chunnam Dragons to tenth place in the 2007 K-League is in the hotseat.

The story is a sorry one. For weeks, the authorities had remained tight-lipped about who was in line to take the job, admitting only that it would be one from overseas.

Naturally, there were off-the-record confessions but nothing that couldn't be denied if necessary. Last Wednesday however, two separate KFA officials, one the chief and FIFA Vice-President Chung Mong-joon, told reporters that the deal was almost done. Official spokesperson You Yong-cheol said that it was "50-50" between Houllier and McCarthy.

According to sources, the 50-50 referred to whether Houllier would say no. It was assumed that McCarthy was prepared to leave English championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers and head east.

The KFA's comments were swiftly relayed westwards, made headlines and came as a shock to the English club said a statement would be issued later. Whether or not McCarthy wanted the job, he was hardly likely to publicly say so when he knew Houllier had first refusal. After a day of meetings with his club, the former Irish boss emerged armed with an improved contract and the old "thanks but no thanks," speech. A day later, it was confirmed that Houllier had also said "non".

It was not a good 24 hours for Korean football and it also contained news that Pim Verbeek, who resigned as coach of the Taeguk Warriors in July, had been given the Australian job. It didn't make anyone feel better.

Instead of taking stock of the sorry situation, the KFA immediately turned to Huh Jung-moo and he was officially anointed on Friday afternoon.

It all happened frighteningly quickly but perhaps after the stinging overseas rejections, it is understandable that swift solace was sought in the embrace of a familiar figure and old flame.

Huh has coached the national team before - taking over after the 1998 World Cup and stepping down in 2000. It was not a time that was seen as especially successful.

On the back of a Korean striker who could actually score goals, Lee Dong-gook, the team finished in third at the 2000 Asian Cup - the same as 2007. Without this recall, the 52 year-old would have gone down in international history as the man before Hiddink.

As coach of K-League club Chunnam Dragons, it is only in the cups that the team has shone. League performances have been average at best. Last season the Gwangyang club finished in tenth, scoring just 24 goals in 26 games.

With that in mind, it is not surprising that, among fans at least, Huh's appointment has been met with even less enthusiasm that Steve McClaren's in England in 2006.

The Englishman was known by the media as "second choice Steve" during his reign as coach, though that nickname turned out to be the nicest he was to receive as England went crashing out of Euro qualification.

"Third-choice Huh" might not have quite the same ring to it but he has a second chance to show what he can do, starting against Turkmenistan on Feb. 6. Let's hope that Korea performs better on the pitch than its football association does off it.


By John Duerden Contributing writer

[mikekim]

I guess the pink light district and dubbed pizza commercials aren't enough anymore.

[Dome Vans]

The thing is the FA are full of themselves. I'm pleased to see them fail so badly. They have the beautiful game and their marketing of the three lions is ceaseless. They got burnt badly with Sven and now they have no cash. McClaren was only picked because he cheap. While the FA still make bad decisions the team will suffer. McClaren was just a good scapegoat. Never seen a man look so ill-fitting and ill-at-will in a cheap suit.

I think there's something to be said in a country's press about having a foreign coach. Korea love their football and would hope that they could find a Korean coach for the team, anything less will not be tolerated by the majority of the population especially when things go wrong. Always the first to be blamed. Surely it can't be that hard to find a home grown coach who can tell the 11 guys on the pitch which way to kick the ball?

[blaseblasphemener]

[Dome Vans]

[indytrucks]

The halcyon days of 2002 are well and truly over for the Korean national side now with this appointment. This is a step backward. Korea might qualify for 2010, but it'll be back to them just making up the numbers I reckon. Park Ji Sung notwithstanding, the rest of the Korean side is very average, and with this new manager I forsee a switch back to to the tried and true Korean tactic of Route 1 football, and blasting away from 30 yards, over the bar, from anywhere on the pitch.

[rusty1983]

[Julius]

[Justin Hale]

Very witty, Julius.

[Gladiator]

Well, now that the FA have appointed Capello it reminds me of a master Roman architect being hired and expected to create a glorious colleseum from sand.

A colleague in the office here in the office remarked, "Well, do you reckon they will play the Milan way, all DEFENSE?." I just looked at him and said, "That legendary back line was achieved with Baresi, Maldini, Costacurta, Desailly et al. If Capello is expected to produce the same results with Wayne Bridge, Ashley Cole and Ledley King then that expectation is a complete absurdity."

[saw6436]

Its soccer, who cares. Not like its a real sport or something.

[Jimskins]

I think since the 2002 world cup Korea have been well-organised and have a number useful players. Whenever I point out to my ignorant oiks of mates the koreans who play in the premiership, they always say they were signed to sell shirts. But Park ji-sung comes on not infrequently for 'the scum', Lee young-pyo is a (fairly) regular starter for spurs and Seol ki-hyun plays often for Reading. They all do good jobs when they play (even Lee dong-gook in his few starts scored a cracker in the league cup), especially Young-Pyo.

2002 was a bit of a fluke and they were a unlucky in 2006 and i think they should be happy for the time being at qualifying for the world cup and see gettting past the group stages as a success (jesus -we can't even qualify for the European Championships and make Croatia look like Brazil) until they get their domestic league sorted out.

I was in Korea from 2005-2006 and used to go to watch Daegu FC every week in the carvernous world cup stadium. The fans who went were great but 10,000 (if we were lucky) in a 70,000+ seater stadium was a bit disheartening. I'll hold my hands up and say i need to travel for two hours to watch my team (da villa) play but rarely go to see the local (Barrow) lower-league club play. But the local teams Koreans are shirking to watch foreign teams on tv (that they'll never see play) are not lower league but their 'premier league' clubs. They need to get off their bums or stop watching rounders/baseball and get down to their local team.

DAEGU FC FIGHTING!!!!!!!!

[ernie]

they should just hire an acting coach, and play the 'get the ball in the box and dive' strategy!