``Now We Hate Hiddink….`` 76 Percent Replied

What would the best name for Head Coach Guus Hiddink, if he is naturalized as a Korean citizen? The answer is `Oh Dae-Young`, which symbolizes so-called the `Hiddink score`, which was the score at games with European teams. This is a joke on the internet.

The beginning of this year when people used to figuratively say that `Hiddink` means `He think` seems to belong to a different age.

The soccer fans looked away from Head Coach Hiddink. The survey research on the approval rating of Head Coach Hiddink, which was conducted by www.donga.com for a week, yielded the following results among the total 1,631 respondents. ▲ actively support – 13 percent (212), ▲ moderately support – 10.97 percent (179), ▲ so so – 30.47 percent (497), ▲ not satisfactory – 21.58 percent (352), and ▲ need to replace a head coach – 23.97 percent (391). The negative responds including `not satisfactory` reached 76.03 percent. In particular, the 23.97 percent of respondents demanded the replacement of the head coach at present situation just 8 months before the 2002 World Cup.

Why did Hiddink`s popularity fall down like this? A netizen `Soccer Lover` explained that while Hiddink does not know well about the Korean soccer and lacks the enthusiasm, the Japan`s head coach Troussier seems sacrifice himself for the Japanese soccer. Other netizens agreed to this opinion.

Consequently, the critical view on Hiddink has been formed not only because the Korean team have been defeated by European teams such as France and Czech Republic, but also because the head coach have slackened his efforts with the frequent vacations and foreign trips, neglecting his duties to save the team from the crisis.

Of course, there are many opposing arguments. A netizen named `soccer fan` maintained that ``the competent Korean coaches have failed to earn a win in the World Cup finals. Hiddink seems to be a last alternative for the Korean soccer. We better watch and see till the World Cup.`` Another netizen rather supported Head Coach Hiddink, saying that ``unlike the Japanese team who concentrated on the extreme defensive strategy encountering the stronger team, Hiddink has actively tested the offensive ability, which turned out to be a big loss. The Korean team may rather laugh at the World Cup finals.``

Bae Keuk-In bae2150@donga.com