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| October 14, 2002 | Monday | Sha'aban 7, 1423 |
South Korean coach refuses to speculate
ULSAN (South Korea), Oct 13: South Korean coach Park Hang-Seo, under fire after his young team failed to reach the final of the Asian Games football, refused to speculate on his future Sunday after the Koreans won a consolation bronze medal with a 3-0 win over Thailand.
Park has been under pressure ever since taking over from the revered Guus Hiddink, who guided South Korea to the semi-finals of the World Cup during the summer.
“Now is not the right time to talk about my future as coach of the national team,” said a sombre Park after being bombarded with questions after the game.
“I am disappointed we did not win the gold and I would like to apologise again to all the people who expected we would.
“As I said after the loss to Iran you cannot compare this team with the World Cup side. They had two years to prepare and we only had three weeks — it disappoints me that we had such a short period together.”
With five World Cup players in the line-up the South Koreans had been expected to reap gold but were felled by defending champions Iran in a penalty shoot out finale to the semifinal Thursday.
Two goals in quick succession midway through the second half from the impressive Lee Chun-Soo, one of South Korea’s stars during the World Cup, and Choi Tae-Uk sealed third spot for the hosts after a brave rearguard battle by Thailand.—AFP
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