Mong-gyu Chung, head of the Football Association, bows his head to a complete defeat against Japan and Korea

Chung Mong-gyu, head of the Korea Football Association, apologized to the soccer fans, taking responsibility for the complete defeat of the Korean and Japanese soccer team A match.

On the 26th, Chairman Chung released a’post to the people’ through the Football Association. He lowered his posture, saying, “I am sorry to the football fans, footballers, and the people who were disappointed in the defeat of the Korean and Japanese football team as the president of the Football Association.”

The soccer team, led by coach Paulo Bento, suffered a 0-3 defeat after consistently struggling with Japan in the A-match away evaluation game held at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, Japan the day before. Even considering the fact that many of the main players such as Son Heung-min (Tottenham) were missing, public opinion was criticized for having completely defeated not only in score, but also in tactics, performance, and determination.

Chairman Chung said, “The Football Association decided that it was the only opportunity to strengthen the national team’s strength ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers, and despite the burden of Korea and Japan, we pushed forward with this game. However, the lack of performance caused a lot of concern. I would like to express my sincere apology.”

I was concerned that the criticism of the public opinion about the complete defeat of the Korea-Japan War will be gathered on the manager Bento. Chairman Chung said, “It is not fair to be blamed only on Bento coach,” he said. “The soccer association has a greater responsibility for not fully supporting the game in the best condition.” “I will use this work as a mirror to support me more actively. He promised, “I will listen to the voices of the field, including the club and the leader, and talk more.”

Earlier, the Bento had creaked from the process of organizing the entry before the Korea and Japan. Ulsan coach Hong Myung-bo chose side defender Hong Chul (Ulsan), who directly mentioned that “the game is not perfect,” as a starter for Korea and Japan. Hongcheol tried his best, but failed to overcome the limitations of his condition and showed poor performance. There were also incidents related to “disadvantages,” including Son Heung-min, a hamstring injured, and Ju Se-jong (Gamba Osaka), who were tested positive for Corona 19, and included them in the national team list without talking with their team and later excluded them.

Chairman Chung promised that he would not repeat the same mistakes by systematically upgrading the support system in the future. He pledged, “We will do our best to identify the cause of the problem and to present a new national team and a national team that gives joy and hope to football fans and the people in the second round of the World Cup Asian qualifier, which will begin in June.”

Reporter Song Ji-hoon [email protected]