Former national team midfielder Koo Ja-cheol (35) recently opened his mouth on the Korean national team, which is in a chaotic situation due to the appointment of Hong Myung-bo. He told his juniors that it is time to endure.
The recent appointment of Hong Myung-bo as the head coach who will lead the A-team has plunged the Korean soccer community into a major turmoil. This is because Hong was appointed after spending five months after replacing former coach Jurgen Klinsmann of Germany in February. Furthermore, controversy arose as former member Park Joo-ho’s disclosure revealed that the power reinforcement committee involved in the process of appointing the national team coach did not actually work properly. After former national team members such as Lee Young-pyo and Park Ji-sung criticized KFA’s administration and the process of appointing a coach, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Sports Ethics Center also seem to have pointed a knife.
It is the future national team players who will be more confused than anyone else. In a related development, Koo Ja-cheol, a former “captain of the national team,” diagnosed, “We need patience now.” After winning 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Hana Bank Korea Cup against Gimpo FC at Gimpo Salter Football Stadium on the 17th, Koo met with reporters at the Mix Zone and said, “What I feel a lot now is that there is a concept of overseas players and domestic players. However, when they talked, what they saw and learned is very different,” and added, “Don’t you think (Son) Heung-min and (Kim) Min-jae are playing overseas right now? I think there is an infinite number of things for Korean soccer to develop further if we have time for patience.”
Referring to the case of Um Ji-sung (Swansea City), who recently succeeded in overseas expansion, Koo Ja-cheol said, “I think how these players will come back later and grow well with domestic players, and how they will harmonize will be really important in preparing for our future.” 안전놀이터
Koo Ja-cheol, who diagnosed, “How can we prevent what is happening now,” suggested looking at the bright future ahead. “This is definitely a difficult time, but I don’t think the future is dark,” he said with strength.
Koo Ja-cheol said he is still talking with his former national team teammate Ki Sung-yueng (FC Seoul) and Lee Chung-yong (Ulsan HD), adding, “The common story is, we will continue to share it to create a calm and brighter future first.”
Finally, he added, “I don’t think it’s desirable to criticize randomly.”