The Korea Herald

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New technical committee formed to select Korea's national football team coach

By Alex Park

Published : July 3, 2017 - 17:56

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The national football governing body appointed new members to its technical committee on Monday in order to search for a head coach for the men's national football team.

The Korea Football Association said the eight-man technical committee was formed to find bench bosses for the senior national team and the under-23 squad. The new committee, led by Kim Ho-gon, will have its first meeting on Tuesday at the National Football Center in Paju, north of Seoul.

In this file photo taken on June 26, 2017, the Korea Football Association's new technical director Kim Ho-gon speaks at a press conference at the KFA House in Seoul. (Yonhap) In this file photo taken on June 26, 2017, the Korea Football Association's new technical director Kim Ho-gon speaks at a press conference at the KFA House in Seoul. (Yonhap)

Kim was named new technical director last week after his predecessor Lee Yong-soo announced his resignation on June 15, the same day that the men's national team head coach Uli Stielike was sacked.

Among the eight members, five were newly named. The new members included three current head coaches of South Korean professional football clubs: FC Seoul head coach Hwang Sun-hong, Suwon Samsung Bluewings head coach Seo Jung-won, and Seongnam FC head coach Park Kyung-hoon.

Cho Young-jeung, who heads the K League referees committee, and Kim Byung-ji, former national team goalkeeper who now works as football commentator, also joined the committee that has the right to hire and fire national team coaching staff.

"Because of the urgency of hiring the national football team head coach, we will first start the technical committee with eight members," the committee chief Kim Ho-gon said. "We will later announce new members who will take care of youth and women's football issues."

The KFA plans to name new national team boss no later than this month as South Korea battles to secure the last automatic berth in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Taeguk Warriors are currently sitting in second place in Group A with 13 points, seven behind Iran and one ahead of Uzbekistan, with two matches to play. South Korea will host Iran on Aug. 31 and face Uzbekistan in Tashkent five days later.

Only the top two teams from each of the two groups will directly advance to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The two third-place teams must go through playoffs for their final chance.

Kim previously said he believes a South Korean coach is a better fit than a foreign tactician, since the latter will not have enough time to communicate with the players and get grasp of the team situation. (Yonhap)