Korea needs Ange Postecoglou as head coach
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou and Son Heung-min look dejected after a match, Dec. 9, 2024. Reuters-Yonhap
The Korea Football Association (KFA) has opened applications for the head coach position, starting next month, as it starts a search to replace Hong Myung-bo. It is never a good sign when you are looking for a new coach before the World Cup Round of 32 has even finished but that is what happened after Korea was one of the first teams eliminated.
It already feels like a long time since the 2-1 win over the Czech Republic had people talking about whether the Taeguk Warriors could make a real impression at the World Cup. Instead, it was followed by two dismal performances and successive 1-0 defeats against Mexico and South Africa.
The nature of those displays was hugely disappointing with a passive team playing not to lose and then losing both. There was more than enough talent to get out of one of the easier groups in the tournament but talent alone is not enough. A proud nation needs a team.
Finding a new coach, the right coach, is difficult. There is one name though, a person who is available right now and is familiar to most South Korean fans.
Ange Postecoglou was Son Heung-min’s coach at Tottenham Hotspur and one of the first things he did when joining the English Premier League team in June 2023 was to appoint the Korean as captain of the team. The two seasons in England were up and down but it ended with Son lifting the Europa League trophy, Tottenham’s biggest prize in over 40 years.
Postecoglou’s brand of soccer is not to everyone’s taste. It’s adventurous, it’s aggressive and it is always played on the front foot. It could be exactly what Korea needs. There would be no more passivity, no more playing for a tie and no more giving too much respect to the opposition. It would be a breath of fresh air.
It would also set the tone for a new Korean identity that all other national teams could follow. One good thing about the recent debacle in Mexico is that there is a feeling that something needs to change in Korean soccer. Postecoglou would certainly change a good deal and give the players, the media and fans a playing style that they could get behind. One that is full of belief.
The Australian won titles at home before leading the Socceroos to the 2015 Asian Cup, beating Korea in the final in Sydney. He then moved to Japan and delivered a first J.League title in 15 years for Yokohama F.Marinos in 2019. Then he moved to Scotland and became a hero for fans of Glasgow Celtic before the move to England, Tottenham and then Nottingham Forest, for an ill-fated short spell.
The Australian is in demand, however. There are reports of Scotland, who also had a disappointing World Cup, wanting his services and Kazakhstan is also keen. It is unlikely that those jobs would appeal to a coach of Postecoglou’s ambitions. It could be that Japan comes knocking.
The task of rebuilding the Korean national team could be the kind of challenge that could fit in with such a coach. Ange Postecoglou could be the man that the Taeguk Warriors need.