Will Hong Myung-bo take national soccer team coach?

Late last month, Hong Myung-bo, 44, Korea’s former Olympic team coach, headed to the U.S. upon completing training under Guus Hiddink, 67, former Korean national team coach and incumbent coach of FC Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia. At that time, a senior official at the Korea Football Association also secretively flew to the U.S. Speculations had it that the official departed for the U.S. to negotiate with Hong to appoint the latter as the next national team coach. Upon returning from the trip, however, the official strongly denied rumors about negotiations, saying “I visited the U.S. on personal matters.”

The prevailing mood is that Coach Hong has effectively been named the next coach who will lead “Taegeuk Worriers” for the 2014 World Cup soccer finals in Brazil. The association held a technical committee meeting on Wednesday, and announced at a press conference that “We recommended four people as candidates for the next national team coach. We will finalize and announce the candidates around early next week after holding consultations with the association’s leadership.” Huh Jung-moo, vice chairman of the association, said, “Hong is the most promising candidate but nothing has been decided yet.”

However, the argument that “There is no alternative to coach Hong Myung-bo” is prevailing among insiders and outsiders of the Korea Football Association. Practically speaking, if Korea recruits a foreign coach once again, he would need time to examine Korean players again. “Taking a longer term perspective into Korean soccer, Korea needs a strategy of trusting and letting a domestic leader with proven track record to lead the team,” said KBS soccer commentator Han Joon-hee. “If it were a foreigner, he will only focus on performance records and thus end up serving only a short term.” Han went on to say “Korean soccer is on shaky ground because the national team could not afford to focus on playing game by game due to frequent replacements of leaders.” As the East Asian Soccer Championships will take place in July, the national team urgently needs its new coach.

After all, Hong is the primary candidate for the post since he knows Korean players better than anyone else and has demonstrated his capacity through the 2009 U-20 World Cup (quarterfinals) in Egypt, the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games (bronze medal), and the 2012 London Olympics (bronze medal). Commenting on Hong who made the “list of the 100 people who will elevate Korea in 10 years,” Vice Chairman Huh also said in his commentary in the April 13 issue of The Dong-A Ilbo that “He is armed with all the qualities required (for a coach) to spearhead the development of Korean soccer.”

In the commentary, Huh analyzed that the national team was able to make “legendary success in London” by winning a Olympic medal for the first time, because Hong learned a lot as player under coach Guus Hiddink (2002 World Cup Korea-Japan), and as assistant coach under coach Dick Advocaat (2006 World Cup in Germany) and Pim Verbeek (2007 Asian Cup). Expert say that Hong can better control anyone else so-called “Hong Myung-bo kids” such as Koo Ja-cheol (FC Augsburg) and Kim Bo-kyung (FC Cardiff City), who will become flagship players of the national team going forward. Other next generation players including Ki Sung-yeung (FC Swansea City), Ji Dong-won (FC Augsburg) and Lee Chung-yong (FC Bolton) are reportedly being efficiently mesmerized into Hong’s charisma.

The question is whether Hong is willing to accept a cup of poisonous sacred wine by taking the leadership that could prematurely end in a year. If the team fails to display good performance in Brazil, there will be no justification for him to remain as the national team coach. Officials at the association are also reportedly seeking an ideal solution based on consensus that it could be wasting of resource to use the emerging coach Hong for just one year. In this regard, soccer experts say that “Korea needs a strategy to win the World Cup title over a long term, instead of being complacent or discontent about short-term performance at the World Cup. To do that, Korea needs the strategy of boldly using domestic leaders who have proven their capability.”

Whether Hong has accepted the coach post or not has yet to be confirmed. Asked whether there were consultations with Coach Hong, however, Vice Chairman Huh said on the day that “There was some consensus” indicating that if details are coordinated properly, the association will reach a final conclusion (on Hong’s appointment) sooner or later.