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Korea Football Association Vice-President Hur Jung-moo reacts during a news conference at the KFA's building in downtown Seoul, Thursday. He announced the KFA's decision to retain Korea coach Hong Myung-bo despite the national squad's dismal World Cup run. / Yonhap |
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The nation's top football organization has decided to give Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo a second chance, despite mounting criticism against him for his team's disappointing group-stage exit at the World Cup in Brazil.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said Thursday that instead of accepting his resignation, it persuaded Hong to lead the national squad until the Asian Cup next year, as agreed in his original contract.
"Letting Hong resign is not the best way to wrap up the dismal World Cup outing," KFT Vice-President Huh Jung-moo said during a news conference in Seoul. "We have decided to keep trusting and supporting him."
Hong had expressed his willingness to resign right after the match against Belgium, but the KFA persuaded him to lead the team until the Asian Cup to be held in Australia in January. Hong changed his mind after a recent meeting with KFA President Chung Mong-gyu, Hur added.
Korea came home after it was eliminated in the group stage following a 0-1 loss to 10-man Belgium, a 2-4 defeat to Algeria and a 1-1 draw with Russia ― the worst result in its last four World Cup outings.
Hur took a very careful stance on talking about the main reasons behind the team's dismal performance in the World Cup and who should be blamed for it. Hur only said a more detailed analysis of the team's performance will be forthcoming.
"Hong has been going through the hardest time. He has been studying really hard what led to the failure," Hur said.
He kept trying to defend Hong, by saying he had only one year before the World Cup, which was too short a period of time; and the KFA is more responsible for the result as it failed to help Hong fully prepare for it.
"I feel really sorry that our team showed a disappointing performance at the World Cup, although we had promised not to let the people down. We will admit to all criticism in a humble manner," Hur said.
The remark came as a surprise as the KFA officially admitted it needs to take responsibility, but the verbal apology alone seemed to fall short of easing fans' disappointment and anger.
Different from Korea, coaches of Asian teams have quit in a bid to take responsibility for their team's early exit.
Alberto Zaccheroni quit as Japan's coach in the wake of the Asian champion's winless outing at the World Cup, saying the team needed a fresh influence, while Carlos Queiroz has also announced he will depart as Iran's coach after his team's early elimination.
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