Commentary - Bulgarian Blues For Humberto Coelho

John Duerden reports on South Korea's latest defeat and the mounting pressures on their new coach.

These are strange times in Seoul. For the sixth time, the World Cup Semi Finalists played in the impressive Seoul World Cup stadium. For the sixth time, Korea lost. Losing against any one of Germany, Brazil, Japan, Uruguay, Argentina and last and least, (according to FIFA) Bulgaria would be no disgrace.

However, losing to all six of them and only scoring against one is worrying and is proving to be a headache for the Portuguese coach of Korea, Humberto Coelho.

It will be of scant consolation to the former stalwart of Benfica's defence that greater men than him have had Balkan-induced headaches. The reasons for such a slump are mystifying and, according to a growing portion of the Korean press, downright annoying.

If some of these writers have their way, Coelho may soon be much closer to that traditional trouble-spot of Europe than he may wish to be.

The Bulgarians were the 13th opponents of Coelho's nine month reign. These traditional lovers of horses galloped into Seoul after impressively winning their qualification group for Euro 2004 by a neck ahead of Belgium and Croatia.

Although short of half their usual starting line up, they nicked a goal with virtually their only chance of the game and bolted back in the stable and defended well for the remainder. Thus, Coelho suffered his seventh defeat as Korea's handler.

Dealing with defeat is always difficult for any coach but it's even tougher when your opponents are hardly thoroughbreds. Korea lost twice in three days in October at the hands of Vietnam and Oman in Muscat, Oman's capital.

Coelho received a vote of confidence from the Korean Football Association (KFA). He must have been relieved as it's plain to see that five victories out of 13 is not good enough, especially as four of those have come against Oman, Vietnam and Nepal twice, all in Korea. The concern in Seoul is that after a brief taste of the big-time, Korea is returning to its former mediocrity on the world stage.

This is despite the recall on Tuesday of Korea's overseas players. Lee Chun soo returned from the Champion's League and Real Sociedad along with PSV's Park Ji-Sung and Lee Yong-pyo , and Song Chong-guk of Feyenoord.

The World Cup hero Ahn Jung-hwan free from military service and Japan started up front along with the K-League's top scorer Kim Do hoon. Alas, the return of these players literally came to nought with another scoreless performance.

Still, the signs against Bulgaria were encouraging. The KFA and Coelho would be wise to ignore some of the headlines of the sports tabloids and concentrate on the positives. The general play was aggressive and pacy. Korea created chances and was foiled by the woodwork and inspired goalkeeping. Coelho wasn't able to pick any of his first-choice defenders, which could explain, if not excuse the slack defending for Vladamir Manchev's goal.

Bulgaria had one real chance and the Lille striker took it well. Korea could learn from Bulgarian efficiency, perhaps the problem lies with the fact that many people think Korea should be past the stage of learning from the Bulgarias of this world, and they would be if their Uncle was still in the saddle.

SOS Hiddink!

It doesn't help the pragmatic Portuguese man that he is working under the ever-growing shadow of Guus Hiddink. Coelho doesn't need to pick up some of Korea's more sensationalist newspapers to realize that the vast majority of Koreans would love to see Hiddink come back and are hoping that he will.

The KFA and Coelho should remind themselves of Hiddink's old nickname, gleefully awarded to him by these same newspapers. ‘He Stinks!' was the first, followed by the Korean sounding name of ‘Oh Dae Yong' was means five-nil, invented after two consecutive 5-0 defeats, though these losses were inflicted by the French and the Czechs in the summer of 2001.

Hiddink was, as we all know, vindicated, and recognized that after an amazing four-week period in June 2002, the only way for the Korean national side was down.

What can compete with not only winning Korea's first game in World Cup history, but also beating Portugal, reaching the second round, beating Italy, beating Spain and then narrowly losing to Germany in the semis? All this in front of your own delirious fans. After the German game Hiddink knew that the next World Cup was four years away, on the other side of the world.

For the Dutchman, the chances of replicating Korea's success in 2006 were about as likely as the Koreans agreeing to call the body of water that separates Korea from Japan, ‘the Sea of Japan', rather than the 'East Sea'.

It is hardly surprising therefore, that Hiddink is regarded as a hero who can do no wrong. He was always going to be a hard act to follow. Moreover, the two coaches have different styles and personalities. The Dutchman was, eventually, regarded as a strong, strict and stubborn coach – qualities often admired in Korea, especially of those in positions of authority.

Coelho is perceived to be more mild-mannered, which is not always a positive trait among Korea's fiercely competitive people who often pride themselves on directness.

Korea On Their Knees

It is true that Coelho is more Clark Kent than Superman but it would have taken superhuman qualities to sustain the excitement of the world cup. Games against Oman, Nepal and these days, Bulgaria, do not excite the public and this can be seen in the empty seats in Incheon and Seoul for these games.
Attendances are falling in the K-League also. One successful summer does not an established football power make.

Coelho must take his squad to Japan next month to participate in the East Asian Football Federation Cup. The former coach of Portugal and Morocco must do two things - avoid defeats against Asian rivals China and Japan and show that progress is being made to ensure that the summer of 2002 wasn't a flash in the pan. Failure to do so could give the Korean press even more opportunities to urge the KFA to go dutch once again.

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