'Zero Coaching Career' Lee Dong-gook Joins South Korea National Team, Ultimately Becomes the 'Worst Card'... Gus Poyet's Dream of 'Temporarily Taking Command' Shattered

*This content was translated by AI.

Gus Poyet (59, Uruguay), the manager's bold "Lee Dong-gook coach card" backfired. Once touted as the top candidate for the next national team manager, Poyet ultimately failed to even attend an interview and had to abandon his dream of becoming the commander of the South Korea national football team.

According to sources in the football community on the 18th, Manager Poyet received a notification from the Korean Football Association (KFA) over the weekend that he had failed the document eligibility review. As a leading candidate who was expected to receive top marks for his understanding of Korean football after leading Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to a K League 1 and Korea Cup double (double crown) last season, it is extremely unusual for him to have been eliminated in the document screening phase without even being granted an interview opportunity.

According to multiple sources, the decisive factor that tripped up Manager Poyet was including current YonginFC Technical Director Lee Dong-gook, who has zero coaching career experience, as part of his five-member coaching staff.

In fact, it is not an unfamiliar sight in Korean football for a foreign manager to include a domestic coach on their staff. This has consistently been utilized as a choice to serve as a bridge between foreign coaches and Korean players. Representative cases include Coach Choi Tae-uk under the Paulo Bento system that led the team to the 2022 Qatar World Cup Round of 16, and current Hwaseong FC Manager Cha Du-ri during the Jurgen Klinsman era. Poyet's appointment of Lee Dong-gook also had ample room to be viewed as a reasonable choice considering smooth communication and leadership within the national team.

However, this hastily created public recruitment system, designed to comply with the regulations of the Korean Olympic Committee, turned into a blunder. This public recruitment document evaluation was conducted through a rigorous quantitative assessment method that mechanically quantified and reflected achievements such as tournament victory records and years of activity in specific leagues. The method involved scoring and summing up the careers of all five members of the coaching staff who applied alongside the manager individually.

As a result, Poyet's team, which included Lee Dong-gook in hopes of fulfilling a bridging role, ended up with a total combined score that fell below the document passing threshold. The mechanical quantitative assessment and public recruitment method effectively blocked the foreign manager's realistic attempt to appoint a bridging coach.

In addition, there are concerns about fairness regarding qualification requirements for this public recruitment evaluation standard within some circles of the football community. While demanding rigorous qualifications such as Professional Sports Instructor Level 1 or 2 for domestic coaches applying for positions like physical coaches or performance analysts creates a high barrier, foreign coaches are alternatively recognized based on criteria such as five years of experience, leading to criticisms of imbalance in the standards.

As a result, Manager Poyet missed his chance to take charge of the South Korea national team twice. Two years ago, he challenged for the team commander position after former manager Klinsman was dismissed but faced defeat. He led Jeonbuk to achieve a double crown but left the team due to disciplinary repercussions involving senior coach Mauricio Taricco. Later, in this public recruitment, he aimed to return to the team by bringing Lee Dong-gook on board, only to face the bitter result of failing the document screening.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that despite being a short-term appointment, a surprisingly large number of foreign coaching staffs, including Domenech Torrent and Jesus Casas, applied for this temporary manager recruitment.

The association will conduct online interviews this week with approximately five foreign candidates who passed the document screening, determine the final priority order, and then proceed to contract negotiations.

The appointed interim manager is scheduled to lead a total of six matches, including four consecutive A-match games in September and October starting with Ecuador on September 24, followed by Uruguay on the 28th, Venezuela on October 2, and Uzbekistan on the 6th, as well as two additional matches in November.

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*This content was translated by AI.