Will Bonfrere Go?
Korean national soccer team coach Jo Bonfrere is on the hot seat after his teams 1-0 defeat to Saudi Arabia:
The Dutchman has already steered South Korea to its sixth consecutive World Cup finals in Germany, but a string of lackluster performances has sparked calls for him to step down from the media and fans.
“The KFA’s technical committee will very shortly discuss at length the current problems with the team,” You Young-cheul, media director for the Korea Football Association (KFA), said by telephone.
“It will then decide on the best course of action to ensure the team has the best preparation ahead of next year’s World Cup. Once a decision has been reached we will make a public announcement”, he added.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a senior KFA official as saying the committee could meet as early as Friday.
“All options, including whether to dismiss Bonfrere, will be discussed at the meeting,” Yonhap quoted the official as saying.
It is true the national team has been playing like crap lately. I watched this last game against Saudi Arabia and the Korean team had plenty of chances for goals but the players kept missing their shots. I don’t know if you can blame the coach entirely for that. The players should feel some heat to as well. The complaint I always found humorous about Bonfrere was that he doesn’t communicate well with his players. Of course he doesn’t, he does not speak Korean. If people want a coach that communicates well hire a Korean coach.
However, I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Bonfrere isn’t coaching the national team next year for the World Cup Finals. The team is playing so bad now they might just need a change though I don’t totally blame Bonfrere for it, but he is ultimately responsible.
It's the same old story. They have lots of chances, but can't capitalize and score. Practically every games have been like that. Usually they dominate the pitch, but can't score. If only they can score, they'd be a very good team.
Personally,I am south korean college student.At that day,
I remembered so many our Univ.student were lookin' that
football game in LAB.As u know,the result is not good.
After the game,korean mass media started finding fault with
Head Coach,Bon Frere(right?) But what's the difference
between Hidink amd Bon Frere? Actually, I can not have
confidence if our team really go to the 16th.
Surely,he will be replaced with the other head coach…
But,there is something that people don't know about.
For koreans,Soccer game has much more meaning than game
itself. I mean that the game is the tool of expressing
our Korean Nationalism.Have u ever thought that football
is linked with nationalism.For example, suppose that
there will be soccer game between korea VS japan.
what will be the reaction of korean people?
The fact is that soccer and nationalism are much more
related,linked each other….
what do you think of that?
It's not Bon's fault for South Korean players who can't finish off their chances. I don't think there's even one player in that team who can knock the ball in even if the goalie is not there and with the goal post wide open. Korean players' eyes are really small and slanted so they can't see the goal posts nor can they find the goal posts even.
There is no doubt that Koreans hold extreme nationalism for their soccer team. Nothing wrong with that as long as it doesn't get out of hand and lead to violence such as the case with soccer hooligans in Europe and most recently North Korea and China. I would hope that Koreans wouldn't act like their Northeast Asian neighbors when playing against Japan.