Ultimately, Moreno's squad welcomes the 'Korean coach,' while Poyet's 'Lee Dong-gook card' was rushed too hastily

*This content was translated by AI.

Two Korean coaches will join the South Korean national football team temporarily led by Spanish head coach Roberto Moreno: Coach Cho Yong-hyung (43), who has been serving as a full-time instructor for the Korea Football Association, and physical coach Lee Jae-hong (43). They are set to join the already-formed 'Moreno squad' as additional members.

The Korea Football Association officially announced on the 10th that coaches Cho Yong-hyung and Lee Jae-hong would be joining Moreno's squad. The association stated, "Following local meetings with the Moreno squad, the need for Korean coaching staff to support Lee Hu (CEO) team operations was raised, and this decision was made after review by the Team Strengthening Committee." Coach Cho will serve as a liaison between the Moreno squad, the players, and their respective clubs. Physical coach Lee will provide support in physical management and conditioning.

They will join separately: one to the field coaching staff led by senior coach Eduardo Docompo, and the other to the physical performance unit led by physical coach Javier Chocaro. Head coach Moreno had already assembled a six-person squad with five other coaches: senior coach Docompo, coaches Jaume Magriña and Víctor Barbo de Soto, goalkeeper coach Nico Bosch, and physical coach Chocaro. Now, two Korean coaches are being added to this group.

It has been natural for Korean coaches to join whenever a foreign head coach takes charge. During the tenure of former German head coach Jürgen Klinsmann, current Hwaseong FC head coach Cha Du-ri and physical coach Lee Jae-hong provided support. Under Portuguese head coach Paulo Bento, coach Choi Tae-wook accompanied him. This explains why the recent joining of coaches Cho Yong-hyung and Lee Jae-hong to Moreno's squad has been accepted so naturally.

The name that naturally comes to mind as a potential head coach is former Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors manager Gus Poyet (Uruguay). Coach Poyet, who led Jeonbuk to a K League 1 and Korea Cup double (a two-title crown) in his first season with the club, was also the most prominent candidate during the recruitment process for the national team's interim head coach. On the day of the application deadline, one Japanese media outlet even reported definitively that Coach Poyet would be appointed.

However, Coach Poyet was eliminated early during the document screening phase. The Korea Football Association required not just a head coach but an entire squad to be submitted as part of the interim head coach recruitment process, and all coaches forming the squad were evaluated through the document review and other procedures. The controversy surrounding Coach Poyet stemmed from his plan to bring along current Yongin FC director Lee Dong-gook, who lacks any coaching experience. Despite repeated rejections from Director Lee, after what was described as a three-fold effort to persuade him, he finally accepted the offer before submitting an application for Ham Kke (CEO) team support.

The problem was that Director Lee had no coaching experience with Gyeong Ryeok-i (EVP). There was inevitably criticism over whether it was appropriate for him to take his first step into coaching by joining the national team as a coach. Ultimately, the decision for Coach Poyet and Coach Lee Dong-gook to work together proved to be a critical misstep. While Coach Poyet alone, with his proven double-winning record domestically, would have received high praise, there was no way Director Lee could have been properly evaluated as a coach. In the end, when scores were calculated including the coaches themselves, the Poyet squad was eliminated.

Had Coach Poyet assembled his own squad from the start, he would not only have passed the document screening but also had a strong chance of being appointed as interim head coach. As a matter of hindsight, as demonstrated by the recent joining of coaches Cho Yong-hyung and Lee Jae-hong, if the Poyet squad had firmly established its position first, bringing along Director Lee Dong-gook would have been much easier. If a head coach selected through proper procedures had personally chosen Director Lee to serve as a liaison with the players, public opinion might have shifted regardless of his lack of coaching experience.

Hyun Young-min, Jeon Ryeok-gang-hwa (Chairman) of the Korea Football Association who led the interim head coach selection process, stated, "Since we conducted a quantitative evaluation of the entire coaching staff, there were regrettable cases where highly qualified head coach applicants were eliminated due to insufficient qualifications among their accompanying coaching staff." He added, "To secure procedural legitimacy while seeking the optimal head coach suited for Woo Ri (CEO) team and aligned with global trends within the constraints of the Football Association's resources, we must carefully consider both advantages and disadvantages and use these lessons to inform future head coach selection processes."

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*This content was translated by AI.