Korean soccer needs to choose a ‘good coach’ rather than a ‘star coach’

Italy's great Arrigo Sacchi (80), a pioneer of pressure soccer, failed to leave a mark as a player. After playing in the Italian lower league, he gave up his career as a player in his mid-20s. He worked as a shoe salesman during the day and studied tactics at night, dreaming of becoming a great player.

When he became the head coach of the prestigious AC Milan at the age of 41 after a lot of hard work, the Italian media ridiculed him by asking, "Does a shoe seller teach soccer to stars?" However, Saki immediately dispelled preconceptions by leading the team to the Serie A championship in its first season. The words he left at that time are still talked about as a classic in director theory. “You don’t have to be a horse to be a jockey.”

On the contrary, the ‘god of soccer’ Diego Maradona remained a loser as a coach. He led the 2010 World Cup in South Africa amidst national expectations, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Zico, a Brazilian soccer hero, played for the Japanese national team at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but suffered the bitter taste of being eliminated in the group stage. Legendary German goal scorer Jurgen Klinsmann also rose to the Korean coaching tower thanks to his reputation, but stepped down with the stigma of being an irresponsible coach.

Korea is no different. ‘Leopard of Asia’ Lee Hoe-taek lost all three group matches at the 1990 Italy World Cup. Cha Bum-geun, who dominated the European stage, was fired after losing 5-0 to the Netherlands at the 1998 World Cup in France.

The failure of many star directors is often likened to a genius failing to understand the common man. This is because they miss the fact that a play that is so easy for the genius himself is not easy at all for the players.

The role of a coach is to make each player understand his or her own senses and tactics and combine them into organizational skills, but the more stars he has, the worse he is at these basics. When the team doesn't go as expected, instead of giving warm encouragement, they often get annoyed by asking, "Are you a player?" or "Is this a team?" From then on, the players began to harbor animosity, thinking, 'If you're a star, everything's fine,' and the coach's leadership was shaken.

Coach Hong Myung-bo eventually resigned, taking responsibility for the team's elimination from the group stage of the North and Central America World Cup. Known as the 'Eternal Libero' and a living legend of Korean soccer, his departure is not just a personal failure, but a loss that Korean soccer must bear together.

Now Korean soccer must choose a new head coach. We need to break away from the practice of appointing coaches solely based on name value and glory from his time as a player. Guus Hiddink, who made it to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, was not a star during his playing days, but became a world-class player by demonstrating leadership by bringing out the potential of players and building them into one team.

I hope that Korean soccer will choose a ‘good coach’ rather than a ‘star coach’ this time. To achieve this, we must break away from the culture of 'doing it for one another', such as selecting players and selecting leaders mainly from specific universities. If you bring back a star who has passed away without cutting out his old skills, Hong Myung-bo's failure will only be the beginning of another failure.