Hong Suspended for Eight Games
By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
South Korea's Olympic football team coach Hong Myung-bo was suspended for eight games by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Asia's football governing body announced Thursday that it would impose the punishment against him for gross misconduct during the third place play-off against Japan at the AFC Asian Cup in Indonesia in July, where his team beat arch foe Japan in a penalty shootout.
As a result, he will not be able to coach the side in the preliminary round, the qualification competition and the finals of the AFC Asian Cup to be held in Qatar in 2011 and the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009.
The suspension will not be applied to FIFA-organized matches other than the Confederations Cup.
As his Olympic squad job will not be affected either by the suspension, he will continue coaching the U-23 team in the brewing final qualifying round of the Beijing Olympics.
Along with Hong's ban, former national team boss Pim Verbeek and goalkeeper coach Alvarez Perreira were handed three- and six-games bans.
The trio were sent off for abusing referee Ali Al Badwadi of the United Arab Emirates after defender Kang Min-soo was ejected when he was hit with a second yellow card in the match.
The Korea Football Association, however, considers the penalty too hard because Hong's punishment is by far stricter than those imposed on Verbeek and Perreira.
``We will investigate the propriety of the suspension and turn in an official appeal to the AFC to reduce it within 15 days,'' an official of the KFA said.