SEOUL: South Korea hope Shin Tae-yong’s familiarity with the squad, good communication skills and ability to get the best out of young players will help get their World Cup campaign back on track after naming him the new national team coach on Tuesday.
The 46-year-old former international midfielder replaces German Uli Stielike, who was sacked last month in the wake of a poor run of results that left the side’s 2018 World Cup hopes in the balance.
Stielike took the Koreans to the final of the 2015 Asian Cup just four months into the job, but has been unable to get the team back to that standard and was fired after a 3-2 defeat to Qatar in mid-June.
Korea Football Association (KFA) technical director Kim Ho-gon said Shin had been given a contract that would see him coach the team through the 2018 finals if they qualified, but terminated if they failed to reach Russia.
“Shin has worked as an assistant coach for the national team and that’s why he knows the players better than anyone,” Yonhap News quoted Kim as saying. “One of his strong points is his communication skills, so he will make a good atmosphere in the team again.”
Shin has been part of the coaching staff for the national youth sides since 2015 and was in charge of the team that reached the last 16 of the recent U-20 World Cup on home soil.
He also coached the Olympic side at the 2016 Rio Games where they reached the quarterfinals, and worked as an assistant to Stielike before taking over the U-20 team.
Shin, who made 23 appearances for the national team, faces a task in getting Korea’s 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign back on track as the side aims to play in the finals for a ninth consecutive time.
With Iran already assured of top spot in Group A, Korea, just a point ahead of Uzbekistan with two games remaining, must hold onto second spot to secure automatic qualification for Russia.
They host the Iranians in Seoul on August 31 before travelling to Tashkent five days later to face the Uzbeks. — Reuters
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