The fallout from the KFA’s puzzling, incoherent, and frankly disrespectful managerial search of 2024 continues – first there was the Park Joo Ho interview covered by Jae in this Tavern post. It has even led to an investigation w/ the Korean legal system – set to be held later this month (late September into early October). Not too long ago Gus Poyet was interviewed, in which he talked about his experience with interviewing with the KFA, his vision for the KNT, things that we need to work on, and his excitement when he was more or less expecting to land the job:
It’s actually incredible how Gus Poyet understands the deep rooted problems in our country’s footballing ecosystem, and points out so many of the issues that us fans have been talking about for YEARS. He has extreme criticism regarding our Asian Cup performance (yes it was hot garbage and it’s an embarrassment that we didn’t win it). It’s a 50 minute video but I truly encourage all Korean football fans to watch it. It’s pretty cathartic.
In this clip he even calls out Klinsmann for having no coherent game plan:
But alas it wasn’t meant to be at least in 2024 – the KFA rudely announced Hong Myung Bo as the next coach to the public without even notifying Gus Poyet – is that not the definition of unprofessionalism?
In my ideal scenario, we would purge the KFA leadership entirely after the January elections, have the new administration apologize over everything that’s happened so far, and just ask Poyet (or any other competent manager for that matter) if he would consider taking over our national team from HMB. This guy has the passion and the vision that every coach except for Paulo Bento has lacked in the last decade or two.
In addition to the Poyet interview, a few weeks ago some Instagram posts came up, in which some (scout? agent?) talks about Herve Renard’s interest in the position, the KFA pulling similar shenanigans as with Gus Poyet, and other incredibly dumb and detrimental things going on in the background. The start of the two posts involves Mr. Pietro Jun (Jeon or 전 is how I’ve seen it in Korean media) introducing himself and some of it is a kinda weirdly self-congratulatory/self-promoting, but I would read carefully starting midway through the first post, after the bit about coach Herve Renard (and would also read the entirety of the second post of course):
Now this – this is extremely upsetting. We almost got Poyet; we almost got Renard; we (reportedly) almost got Jesse Marsch; and apparently we could’ve even hired Luis de la Fuente, who recently won the Euros with Spain. Did you know the KNT job paid twice the salary that the Spain job did? I sure didn’t.
The prevailing theory since HMB’s appointment has been that the KFA is jealous of Moriyasu’s success with the Japanese national team in the recent WC, so they planned on having Hong Myung Bo coach the KNT again all along while playing an elaborate game of 4D chess to make it seem like they were actually trying to get a proper modern coach. The Instagram posts above definitely confirm that HMB was the intended manager all along. It’s all very convenient – HMB publicly criticizing the KFA and promising he would never abandon Ulsan Hyundai midseason… only for him to do a complete U turn and go against everything he said suddenly. Then they started talking about how HMB is as good as any foreign coach and how he’s the best coach in Korea…. even though recent results show that he is still absolutely awful – even interim manager Kim Do Hoon had a more coherent game plan than HMB. We may as well have stuck with him if this was the outcome.
Not only does the KFA throw their managers under the bus but they also throw our PLAYERS under the bus – read the excerpt above about the excessive pressure on Son Heung Min, and recall how bizarre the whole table tennis scandal was leaked literally before the big semifinal earlier this year.
There is no question about it – the KFA is actively harming Korean football.
In theory, the Korea job should be a very attractive one. We are essentially guaranteed to make the World Cup barring absolute disaster, we are a major developed country with a high standard of living, the position pays very well compared to other countries, and we have some extremely good players that a good manager should be able to unlock and enjoy success with (seriously the bar is very low). We have arguably the best Asian player in history in Son Heung Min; one of the best central defenders in the world in Kim Min Jae; a core member for PSG and rising superstar Lee Kang In; and a pretty complete XI once you think about it:
In a season or two we should be seeing a backline of Seol Young Woo (he’s one of Zvezda’s best players right now and our most consistently well performing KPA alongside LKI), Kim Min Jae, Kim Ji Soo (recently made his senior debut with Brentford and looked very good), and Lee Han Beom (CB playing RB more often for Midtjylland). This, on paper, would make for the strongest Korean defensive lineup in our history. Currently, what often happens is that our FBs or our non-KMJ CB get wrecked only for KMJ to cover and save us – this is a recurring theme in the current KNT landscape where individual brilliance in CB (KMJ) and attack (Lee Kang In and Son Heung Min) bail us out of embarrassment. But that should be a thing of the past with this defensive line. Kim Ji Soo is incredibly complementary to Kim Min Jae too – while KJS is a calming, stabilizing stopper, KMJ is aggressive, comes off his line, and cuts off play. KMJ plays left CB, KJS usually plays right CB. On paper, it’s so perfect – and it’s a duo I cannot wait to see.
I will also make a quick aside and mention how old 꼰대 Korean coaches – and Korean coaches in general save for the few tacticians like Lee Jung Hyo or Shin Tae Yong – are maddeningly conservative. With correct management we do not need to repeatedly haul our best European players across the globe to play Asian minnows. We do not need to be playing a 34 year old Kim Young Kwon – despite being a KNT legend, the likes of young Kim Ji Soo or Lee Han Beom are more than capable of dealing with Palestine or Oman (teams that won’t bother to attack us anyway). For an incredibly in depth comparison of the biggest Asian leagues (Korea, Japan, Saudi, Qatar, UAE) – highly highly recommend this article. It’s pretty damning as a K League supporter.
If that backline isn’t strong enough for you we will always have a strong CM + attacking mid/winger pool. Even after Son’s eventual retirement there’s Bae Jun Ho (Stoke City’s player of the season on his debut season, now wearing #10), Hwang In Beom (who FINALLY moved to a proper club in Feyenoord), Lee Kang In, Eom Ji Sung (on fire for Swansea in his debut season), Yang Min Hyeok (unproven but with great potential), Hong Hyeon Seok, Lee Jae Sung, and perhaps most importantly – a promising defensive midfielder (finally) in Kwon Hyeok Kyu – who has been playing surprisingly very well and consistently at each of his loan clubs so far in Scotland. I am truly baffled as to why he is not being called up every time – our ultra mega conservative coaches keep turning to the same error prone 35 year old DMs who are definitely not playing in the upcoming World Cup. Up top I’m slightly less enthused but nonetheless, we have a number of young promising CFs in Europe in Oh Hyeon Gyu, Lee Young Jun in addition to Cho Gue Sung and Hwang Hee Chan.
Our talent pool is incredible and we can already field an entirely European based starting XI – Gus Poyet himself questions why we are not integrating Lee Han Beom and Kim Ji Soo already – yet unfortunately Hong Myung Bo is way too old school and conservative to look beyond the players that he is familiar with from Ulsan. We’re entering a period where we have more players in Europe than ever – and the ones we have are actually playing and doing well this time, unlike the last time we had a ton of players in Europe (that post 2012 period).
Sadly, the KFA is destroying our reputation and credibility to foreign coaches. Maybe the prospect of coaching the Japanese national team may be slightly more tantalizing to Western coaches (seriously, Japan’s PR campaign since WWII has been insanely effective with essentially everyone having a favorable view of them), but Korea should be just immediately behind Japan, if not equal to it or more attractive given the higher level of individual talent.
Korea is a truly messed up ecosystem for footballing development (holding ourselves to the highest standards here… not Asian standards). Our players get paid half the amount that J League players do, 99% our incredibly successful youth players get zero playing time, K League pitches look like they’re from a third world country not a wealthy, developed country like ours… it’s kind of a miracle that we are where we are right now and develop the talent that we do despite so much corruption and mismanagement. But that is a discussion for another time.
A post on the recent September WCQs against Oman and Palestine is almost finalized. Those friendlies… wow. HMB is a mess right now. To be continued next time.
copy writting opportunity? Rage against the KFA… bullshit on parade.
You’re right.
Our defensive pairing should always be Kim Ji Soo and KMJ.
Fullbacks should be SYW and Lee Han Beom. Lee often plays as RB with his danish club.
As for midfield, Kwon Hyeok Ku and Hwang In Beom.
Attacking mid/CAM should be Lee Jae Sung or Bae Junho.
Lastly, our strikers should be Hwang Heechan and Lee Young Jun. Young Jun can play as CF similar to Wookie. Iraq beat japan by playing long ball to their tall CF, we should do the same with Young Jun as our main striker.