South Korea's national soccer team manager finally decided - Foreign player invitation failed, 5 months of negotiations a ”waste of time” says South Korean media

Hong Myung-bo has been appointed as the new head coach of the South Korean men's national soccer team. Jurgen Klinsmann was fired in February of this year, and the Korea Football Association has decided to appoint him as head coach.
The Korean Football Association (KFA) had initially planned to decide on a successor by early May, but the process proved difficult. After five months of selection, the appointment of Hong finally brought the matter to a close. However, the KFA had initially planned to decide on a successor by early May, but the process proved difficult.
Negotiations were ongoing with the intention of inviting a foreign coach, but this appears to have been abandoned. Hong served as the national team coach for two years from 2013, and this will be his first return in about 10 years.
The team was eliminated at the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, and head coach Hong came under fire. He took five months to select a new head coach, but failed to bring in a foreign one.
In addition, there has been criticism that the KFA has wasted its time by appointing a man who had not achieved satisfactory results as a manager in previous World Cups.
Hong is 55 years old and from Seoul. He started his professional career in 1992 and participated in four consecutive World Cups, starting with the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
He also played in the J-League, playing for Bellmare Hiratsuka and Kashiwa Reysol. In the 2002 Japan-Korea World Cup, he was the fifth kicker in the penalty shootout against Spain in the quarter-finals.
He led South Korea to the semi-finals with a successful K. In 2004, he was selected by the "King of Soccer" Pele as one of the "100 Greatest Soccer Players." After retiring from active play in the same year, he played for the U-23 (U12) national team.
He has served as assistant coach for the Korea National Team (2016-23) and manager of the U-20 national team. He took charge of the South Korean national team in June 2013, and South Korea won the 2014 World Cup.
The team was eliminated in the group stage of the cup. Hong retired as the national team manager in July of the same year. In 2021, he will be the head coach of Ulsan, a club in the Korean professional soccer league, K League 1.
Ulsan won the K League title twice in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Korea Football Association (KFA) has announced that it will hold a press conference on the appointment of South Korea's national team coach in February this year.
In February, the Korean team dismissed Jurgen Klinsmann. Klinsmann took over as manager at the end of February last year, but South Korea was unable to reach the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, which was held until early February this year, and was unable to achieve its goal.
The team failed to win the championship. As a result, Klinsmann was dismissed. The KFA then worked hard to find a successor, with the aim of inviting a foreign coach.
Negotiations with Jesse Marsh, who is the national team manager, but the talks fell apart due to disagreements over salary.
Negotiations with the head coach, Gustavo Poyet, failed. Meanwhile, the Korean national team was approached by Hwang So, who used to play in the J-League and is now the head coach of Daejeon Hanashi Citizen in the K-League.
Non has appointed Kim Do Hoon, who has previously served as manager of Incheon United FC in the K League, as interim manager.
On the 8th of this month, the KFA announced that Hong would become the next head coach of the South Korean national team.
At a press conference held by the KFA on the same day, technical director Lee Im-Seng said of Hong, "I'm sure he will be a great success."
Hong is in charge of the national team for the first time in 10 years since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but online, there are a lot of negative comments about Hong.
Opinions on Hong are divided. Some are positive, saying, "Hon is far better than the half-baked foreign coaches," while others say, "He has no tactics at all," and "It's over. The World Cup is over."
Some have questioned Hong's ability, saying, "I can't wait for him to be here." Korean media also reported that, despite it taking five months to decide on a new manager, the original plan was to not invite a foreign manager.
Hong was reportedly a candidate for the next head coach when Klinsmann was fired.
"It can only be described as a waste of time," he said, criticizing the move and saying, "The five months we spent negotiating with a foreign manager will never come back."
Under new coach Hong, the South Korean national team will play in the final qualifying round for the World Cup starting in September.
Let's fight.