“Players don’t need rest and I think the important things are money and sponsors. My opinion is: ‘I don’t think the national team is important in Korea’”.
Paulo Bento (53, Portugal), the head coach of the Korea national soccer team, expressed strong dissatisfaction at a press conference last month that some of his players were playing too hard in their teams during the FA Cup and the K -League just before the World Cup.
Coach Bento had already decided not to renew his contract with Korea last September. The statement is attracting attention again because it came after he decided to leave the Korean team.
Regarding the physical condition of Kim Jin-soo (30, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), coach Bento said, “It’s not good. But I’m not surprised by the bad conditions,” he said. “I played until the end even after getting injured in the 30th minute in the FA Cup. I played the game with a big risk of losing the World Cup,” he said. same goes for Kim Moon-hwan (27, Jeonbuk) It’s because he played so many games at the end of the K-League.”
Kim Jin-su played 31 K-League matches, 4 FA Cup matches and 8 AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Champions League (ACL) matches, while Kim Moon-hwan played 28 league matches, 5 FA matches Cup and 6 ACL matches, respectively. In addition, he was constantly called to national team matches such as the A national team and the East Asian Cup.
As soon as the season ended, those who were supposed to participate in the World Cup joined the national team, but Kim Jin-soo was unable to attend national team training due to injury. Coach Bento pointed out that the cause of Kim Jin-soo’s injury was the abuse his team suffered.
In addition to these, manager Bento expressed strong dissatisfaction with the end-of-season schedules of the K-League and the FA Cup, which took place every three days, such as the K-League promotion playoffs and the FA Cup.
Coach Bento said: “Actually, players don’t need rest and I think the important things are money and sponsors. My opinion is that it seems that the national team is not important in Korea. I saw that in August,” he added. “Aside from that, I think the team wants to put in a good performance at the World Cup, but neither the team nor the players seem to have any intention of helping in the right way.”
Behind the scenes of the departure after leading the round of 16
Even after leading Korean football to the last 16 of the World Cup in 12 years, coach Bento relinquished the leadership of the Korea national football team after 4 years and 4 months. Coach Bento took over as coach of the Korean national team in August 2018, after the World Cup in Russia, and led the team for more than four years, advancing to the World Cup finals 10 times in a row.
On the 6th, coach Bento explained: “I told the players and the president of the Korean Football Federation about my decision” and “the decision had already been made last September”.
Coach Bento had hoped to secure his contract until the 2026 World Cup, which four years later will be co-hosted by the three North and Central American countries, Canada and Mexico, but the association agreed to the 2023 Asian Football Federation (AFC ) in a situation in which the results of the World Cup in Qatar were uncertain (AFC) After renewing his contract only up to the Asian Cup, Bento proposed a plan to lengthen the period according to performance.
In the end, the two sides could not reduce the difference, and it seems that Bento also made up his mind at this time.
Taegeuk Warriors “It’s a shame, but thanks… I’ll cheer you up”
The Taegeuk warriors expressed their gratitude and cheered for the future even in the midst of regret.
National team ‘captain’ Son Heung-min (Tottenham) said: ‘I’ve learned so much over the past four years that it’s not enough to say thank you.’
Son Heung-min said, “I have never doubted the kind of football the coach is playing. Many people doubted it, but in the end they applauded us because we showed a good performance at the World Cup. We have to be aware of it and move forward better.”
He continued: “The coach always protected and thought about the players. I took over the captaincy after the director arrived, maintained a good relationship and learned a lot.”
Hwang In-beom (Olympiakos) was so sorry he couldn’t speak. Hwang In-beom said, “The director is someone I’m really thankful for. I don’t know how many people will accept this, but I’m really grateful,” he said.
He said: “When I was asked, ‘Why are you using that player? Thanks to him I was able to achieve a bigger dream.”
Forward Cho Kyu-seong (Jeonbuk) also said, “When the coach shook hands with the players one by one, I also cried. It was really sad,” he said, “I wouldn’t have gotten to this point without the coach and coaches.” Full-back Kim Jin-soo also gave his opinion: “I think a person should prepare for so long to Korean football”.
Reporter Yumin Kim