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