The joy of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is now a thing of the past. A new football festival awaits this year. The stage is the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in July and the Asian Games held in Hangzhou in September. The success of Korean soccer also depends on what kind of performance is produced in the two competitions.
Colin Bell (62), coach of the women’s national soccer team, and Seon-Hong Hwang (55), coach of the under-23 men’s national soccer team, met at the Paju Training Center on the 15th to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the founding of Sports Kyunghyang, and said, “My shoulders are heavy, but I think it’s fate. We will be responsible for the spring days of Korean football.”
If I were to insist on the order, Director Bell should fire the salute first.
Coach Hwang said, “There is a sense of weight that it is the best tournament hosted by the International Football Federation (FIFA), so the World Cup comes first,” and expressed anticipation, saying, “Efforts built up since coach Bell took office in October 2019 will come out.”
Coach Hwang seems to be looking forward to a smooth start, remembering that the women’s national soccer team finished runner-up in the Women’s Asian Cup last year. “If the current trend continues, there will be no problems with the World Cup or the Asian Games,” he said.
Conversely, Coach Bell emphasized, “For Korean soccer to survive properly, both men and women must succeed in the Asian Games.”
In the past Asian Games, men have recently won the last two competitions in a row, but women’s third place was the best result. Coach Bell said, “In fact, the barometer of success can be a gold medal.
There was also a game in which the two command towers agreed that they must win regardless of gender. It is a war between Korea and Japan that neither scissors, rock, or footpath can lose. In men’s football, each generation suffered a series of crushing defeats in Japan 0-3, and women’s football also failed to overcome Japan’s wall.
Coach Hwang said, “If we want to achieve our goal (gold medal) in the Asian Games, we will meet Japan unconditionally. Looking back on the cause of last year’s failure, I’m trying to pay it back. There can be no two defeats,” he said forcefully. At the same time, he added, “Japan is building a national team centered on people born in 2001 preparing for the Paris Olympics next year, and I will return it with a bitter defeat.”
Even coach Bell, a foreign leader, is no exception to the uniqueness of the Korea-Japan match. He, who is familiar with the special relationship between Korea and Japan, like his nickname ‘Korean Foreigner’, said, “In last year’s Asian Cup group stage, we drew 1-1, and in the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship, we lost 1-2. Our players, who have become stronger than before, will bring good results with active attacking soccer.”
If coach Hwang has been building a career as a coach in Korea, coach Bell has not many points of contact because he has been active in Germany, Norway, and England. In private, he only learned how to get to know each other while walking around the field.스포츠토토
Coach Bell said, “Unfortunately, I know that Hwang also played for Leverkusen in Germany when I was working in Germany. From his first meeting, this story opened the door to a conversation,” he recalled. Coach Hwang nodded, saying, “The memories of playing in Germany for two years are the medium.”
The two are thinking of forming a new relationship starting with the Asian Games and ending with the Paris Olympics.
Coach Bell said, “For Korean soccer to succeed, both men and women need to perform well. I believe that coach Hwang, who represents Korean soccer, will achieve good results from the Asian Games to the Olympics.” Coach Hwang also said, “Women’s soccer has never been to the Olympics. After achieving good results in this year’s World Cup and Asian Games, I hope to write a new history in the Olympics. I hope we all smile and return home in gold.”