Lee Young-pyo (47), a “legendary” soccer commentator, criticized the Korea Football Association’s appointment of Ulsan HD coach Hong Myung-bo (55) as the head of the new national soccer team.
In an interview with KBS Sports, a YouTube channel, Lee Young-pyo said on Monday, “I was surprised. On the previous day, I saw an interview that Hong Myung-bo would not coach the national team. I really thought a foreign coach would be appointed this time.”
“I had expectations that the association would bring a good foreign coach this time,” Lee said. “So I came on the radio and said, ‘Let’s wait (for the association), let’s trust it.’ In conclusion, I don’t think I’ll ever say, ‘Let’s trust our soccer association’ again after time passes.”
Earlier, Lee Im-saeng, technical director of the Korea Football Association, held a briefing on the appointment of Hong Myung-bo on the 8th. At the time, director Lee Im-saeng said he appointed Hong Myung-bo for eight reasons, including leadership, performance of the coach, experience in coaching the national team, and foreign leaders’ lack of time to identify Korean players and stay in Korea.
On the reason for appointing Hong Myung-bo to discipline his team, Lee said, “Coaches who perform well in Europe and perform well for long periods of time control their teams. Foreign coaches control many players. It is hard to agree that only Korean players should be controlled.” Lee also recalled, “We had a foreign coach named Guus Hiddink. He had almost complete control of the team.”
Regarding the lack of time, he pointed out, “What I’ve consistently said is, ‘It’s good if it’s early, but what’s more important than fast is accurate’ several times. At this point in time, it will be difficult to get sympathy from many people to say that they chose the fast one, not the exact one because they didn’t have time.”
Regarding foreign coaches’ stay in Korea, he said, “It is important how much the national team develops and actually grows, and how beneficial Korean soccer is. How long a foreign coach stays in Korea doesn’t matter. Even if a coach stays in Korea for more than 365 days a year, it doesn’t matter if the coach’s performance is not good enough.” He added, “It is true that former coach Jurgen Klinsmann became an issue with such an unfaithful attitude. However, if he only focuses on addressing the issue, he may lose track of a good coach. We don’t have to be tied up.” 먹튀검증
“Seeing this (appointment of Hong Myung-bo as head coach of the Korea Football Association), it seems that we, including myself, are seeing the limitations of our soccer players. We should not be in administration, including myself. For the time being, soccer players should not be in administration and should literally disappear,” Lee said. “In the process of appointing me, I had expectations to ‘let’s trust and watch it’, but I also want to apologize to the fans.”