South Korea may not be getting former Dutch national team coach Bert van Marwijk as the new national team manager after talks are reported to have broken down. South Korea have been looking for a permanent replacement for Hong Myung-bo, who stepped down as the national team coach after the World Cup 2014. It was a disappointing tournament for the Asians, who were expected to do well due to the massive fan following that they have taken to the South American nation. Further, South Korea were regarded as one of the strongest representatives from the Asian region along with Japan.
Failure to get past the group stages of the World Cup 2014 led to the resignation of Hong Myung-bo. Since then, technical director Lee Yong-soo has been looking at various options to text charge of the national team. South Koreans have developed a huge respect for Dutch coaches after the success of former Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink. The Dutchman took the relatively mediocre South Korean team to the semifinals of the World Cup 2002. Bert van Marwijk could have been the next Dutchman to lead South Korea, but it now appears that talks have failed to progress.
Lee Yong-soo has so far been silent on the issue and the next move of the Korean football Federation remains to be seen. “He’s a great coach. Maybe we will have another opportunity to work with him but we’ve decided not to pursue the talks any further at this time. The one important thing for us is for the new coach to have passion for the national team and to have the willingness to dedicate himself to improve football in this country,” said Lee Yong-soo at a later stage by explaining the failed to get van Marwijk, which he put down as tax rates and the length of work.