Temporary men's football coach stresses need to focus on controllables amid controversy

CHEONAN — With the men's national football team under intense scrutiny due to a controversy surrounding apparent discord among key players, Robert Moreno, the squad's temporary head coach, insisted on the need to focus on the controllables Thursday.

Moreno announced a 26-man squad for friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Qatar scheduled for November. Rather than those upcoming matches, his press conference at Korea Football Park in Cheonan, some 80 kilometers south of Seoul, was instead dominated by questions surrounding the status of the central figures in reports of friction within the team.

Kim Min-jae, Hwang Hee-chan and Hwang In-beom, collectively called the "1996 group" based on their birth years, reportedly told their Korea teammates they wanted to retire from international play after a 2-0 win over Uzbekistan on Oct. 6 because they were unhappy with the longtime captain Son Heung-min, four years their senior.

While none of the three acted on that, the incident divided football fans and fueled speculation that these four players may never again play on the same national team.

Moreno instead called up all four of them, saying his choices were based solely on players' abilities.

Moreno, who was hired in September as a caretaker boss while the Korea Football Association (KFA) continues its search for a permanent head coach, said he had talked a great deal with all the players involved over the past several weeks and had come to the conclusion there would not be an issue with having these players back together.

"They are all on this list because we have decided that they deserve to be on the team based on their current level of performance and they are prepared to make sacrifices for the national team," Moreno said. "I believe they will be able to put on a performance that can bring happiness to our fans, which is the national team's ultimate goal."

Moreno declined to reveal further details of his conversations with individual players, citing the need to protect privacy.

"The players also understand that their privacy will be protected when they are with me. Whatever needs to be said about a certain player, I will speak directly with that player," Moreno said. "And that is how trust builds within the team, and that is the least I can do to show my respect for this position as head coach of the national team."

He did reiterate his earlier points that he believes whatever happens inside the national team locker room must be resolved inside, and that no single player is bigger than the team.

Amid swirling outside noise, Moreno said it was important for players to concentrate on what they can control — namely, how they play on the field.

"Right now, what I can control is my effort level, giving my best every day," he said. "I have told the same thing to my players. They have to concentrate on the controllables, and whatever happens away from the field must not be an excuse for a poor performance on the field."

Moreno is signed through Nov. 27 and the clock may be ticking on his time as Korea's boss, even though the KFA has said it will consider keeping him on through the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup set to kick off in January.

He appears to have been dealt a tough hand with the apparently fractured locker room but Moreno shrugged off the suggestion that he was under undue amount of pressure to deal with the mess.

"Of course, there is pressure to win. But I feel very privileged to be doing what I love and representing a country. I am proud of that," he said. "The real pressure is on people trying to make ends meet day after day."