As the under-20 (U-20) national team led by coach Kim Eun-joong made the world’s top 4 in Argentina, on the opposite side of the globe, the insight of Kim Pan-gon, former head of the National Team Power Enhancement Committee, who tapped coach Kim, is being illuminated again. .스포츠토토
This is because the leaders chosen by him, including coach Kim Hak-beom, coach Paulo Bento, and coach Kim Eun-joong this time, have made great achievements in Korean soccer.
‘Kim Eun-joong’ won the U-20 World Cup quarter-final against Nigeria held at Santiago del Estro Stadium on the 5th (Korean time) in overtime thanks to Choi Seok-hyun’s final shot, winning 1-0 and returning to the 2019 tournament. He succeeded in advancing to the semifinals for the second time in a row.
In particular, it is the first time in Asian football to advance to the semifinals twice in a row in this tournament, so it is all the more commemorative. In the past, Japan had a record of advancing to the quarterfinals three times in a row (quarterfinals in 1995, quarterfinals in 1997, and runner-up in 1999), but they stopped challenging in the quarterfinals except for one runner-up.
Following the runner-up in the Polish tournament in 2019, Korea rewrote an unprecedented history in Asia by advancing to the semi-finals of the tournament. Kim Eun-joong proved that the runner-up in the 2019 tournament was not a coincidence, but a skill achieved by the steady youth development of Korean football.
At the center of the U-20 national team’s splendid achievements, coach Kim Eun-joong, who has warm leadership, cannot be left out. In 2017, coach Kim Eun-jung, who was called by former U-23 national team coach Kim Bong-gil and joined the national team coaching team by age group, maintained the coaching position even after coach Kim Bong-gil stepped down and Kim Hak-beom came as his successor. – You experienced the gold medal in the Palembang Asian Games and the quarterfinals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
And after the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021, coach Kim Hak-beom stepped down, and coach Kim Eun-joong, who had a hiatus for a while, took over as head coach of the U-20 national team, which was vacant in December of that year.
Head coach Kim Pan-gon, who was the head of the National Team Strengthening Committee at the time, selected 10 candidates and recommended coach Kim Eun-joong in his early 40s to the Korea Football Association president Mong-kyu Chung after going through several processes.
Regarding the background of his seniority at the time, Chairman Kim said, “While working as an Olympic team coach for four years, I decided that I had acquired enough know-how to develop players and prepare for international competitions.” The defensive tactics are in line with the active football philosophy pursued by the Korea Football Association, and he also received high marks for his upright and reasonable personality, fresh image, and ability to communicate smoothly with young players, “he explained the reason for the appointment.
Former Chairman Kim’s judgment was correct. In the end, it became the basis for a new history of this U-20 World Cup. It was the result of a close interview and a selection that matched the style of soccer set by the Korea Football Association.
Chairman Kim’s achievements are already evident in the process of appointing Paulo Bento as former head coach of the men’s A national team and former U-23 national team member Kim Hak-beom.
Following the organizational reorganization of the Korea Football Association in 2017, former chairman Kim, who took the position of chairman of the national coach selection committee, started working on appointing a new national team coach after the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Former Chairman Kim himself went to a press conference and disclosed his appointment process transparently, conveying a realistic and reasonable background for his appointment.
Chairman Kim explained that he is “a manager who can develop Korean football to the next level if he endures and clears it well for the next four years,” and despite the cold view of public opinion as “a failed manager in China,” he won the contract with Bento. Four years later, at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, it was the second round of 16 in the away World Cup.
It was the same when he appointed director Kim Hak-beom before Bento.
Former Chairman Kim took the lead by appointing coach Kim Hak-beom through a change of coach, even though the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games were about half a year away. Coach Kim has won the Asian Games gold medal, which is linked to the military service benefits of the pillars of Korean football, such as Son Heung-min, Hwang Eui-jo, Hwang Hee-chan, and Kim Min-jae. Then, he won the Asian final qualifying round for the Tokyo Olympics and won the quarterfinals at the Olympic finals for the third time in a row in Korean football.
Afterwards, former Chairman Kim stepped down from his chairperson position in January 2022 to resume coaching and took office as the Malaysian national team coach. He vomited the spirit of achieving the quarterfinals.
And he left a shadow of himself in Korean football, so he was in a situation where he was watching Kim Eun-joong’s feat in the semifinals from behind.