The KFA held a press conference this morning in Seoul, where Vice Chairman Huh Jung-Moo announced that Hong Myeong-Bo will see out his contract as national team boss (through the 2015 Asian Cup). Huh apologized for Korea’s poor World Cup performance, but said they believe that cutting ties with Hong would be a mistake and would not benefit Korea in the long-term.
Update: I wasn’t sure when I wrote this earlier, but it’s been clarified since then (by people who speak Korean better than I do). Apparently, Hong Myeong-Bo offered to resign after the World Cup, but was denied. Then after meeting with officials in Korea, he was convinced to stay on for the remainder of his contract.
(brace for mass debates in comment section)
whew thank goodness
Why don’t we just get Huh Jong moo back lol…
and apathy begins to set in…..
On the flip side, I am glad that Hong has decided to go out on his own terms and not at an all time low….as in right now.
As for the team being in the right hands, well.
Lord help us
I don’t know – I have gradually come to terms that Hong didn’t execute a number of things well enough during the WC, but it’s a matter of – is Hong capable of learning/growing/improving from this to be capable or will he be a static and ineffective manager that doesn’t improve. Given the timeframe to prepare for Asian games/Asian cup, this may be the better move for now but I agree w/ Jae on his twitter -he doesn’t get the result given the time offered him – I would side with his departure.
Just to clarify/expand on what I meant on Twitter, I think Hong not only needs to get the results (to the finals at least), but the team also needs to play in a convincing manner. The defense must look solid and the attack needs to be clicking/scoring regularly. If they squeak through with a number of 1-0 wins and some draws/penalties then I think he should go.
Do we want someone who wanted to resign?
Good question – it starts to sound like veering dangerously into CKH territory BUT there’s huge differences b/w the 2 situations and b/w the 2 managers.
Cha DR’s tweets will highlight the awkwardness of this decision because as time moves forward, the sentiment of Brazil will get worse and worse (2014 Brazil is probably comparable with 1986 Mexico City in terms of similar performance) and the manager responsible will strangely be at the helm….barring a doorprize ass whooping at the oh so coveted Asia Cup.
Is Hong going to quit being so conservative? Is he going to insist on certain individuals? These a personality or character qualities we are talking about here.
I was impressed somewhat the the KFA decided to take it on the head, albeit facelessly as predicted. I do think the yeot incident played HEAVILY into whats transpired with KFA and Hong. Very much so.
I’m…ok w/ this, I ‘spose. Give Hong a chance until the Asian Cup, c what he can do w/ a reasonable amount of time. His track record b4 the WC keeps making me go, “hmm, maybe…”
Asian Cup doesn’t work out, no1 can say Hong didn’t get a fair shot
It’s the most reasonable thing to give him another chance. He didn’t really have the time to develop his philosophy to the senior team. I hope he’ll take the upcoming AC to prove his worth. Also, I think our Bundesliga players will be on winter break so we won’t have any conflict there.
Changes won’t happen overnight but I just want to see what Hong has to fully offer because I don’t think we really saw that this past World Cup. I believe he has tremendous potential given his charismatic personality and his history as a player.