Fabio Cannavaro (51-Italy), a World Cup-winning legend and a rare Ballon d’Or winner as a defender, has emerged as a candidate to take over the reins of the crisis-hit South Korea national soccer team.
“Cannavaro has reportedly received an offer to coach the South Korean national team,” Italian media outlet Football Italia said on Thursday (June 24).
He joins Uli Stielike (70-Germany) and Jürgen Klinsmann (60-Germany) as former national team coaches. If it’s true that Cannavaro has been offered the job, it would be shocking news.
“South Korea failed to impress at the recent Asian Cup and lost 0-2 to Jordan in the semifinals after a fairly lackluster period under Jürgen Klinsmann,” the outlet said, adding, “Klinsmann was heavily criticized for his attitude towards the job. Under pressure from many fans, the German coach was eventually sacked by the Korean Football Association.”
Although the national team could have retained Shin Tae-yong after the 2018 World Cup in Russia, they chose Paulo Bento after thoroughly vetting him through the National Strength and Conditioning Committee, headed by Kim Pan-gon.
The style, dubbed “build-up football,” continued under Bento and was often criticized for its frustrating play when facing Asian teams that dropped their defensive lines and played with a high level of intensity. Even before the World Cup, there was a lot of cynicism, but in Qatar 2022, Bento instilled confidence that South Korean soccer could hold its own against world-class teams and gave the country its first World Cup round of 16 in 12 years.
Sadly, that’s where our relationship with Bento ended. The rest is history. Unlike Bento, who went through a thorough vetting process, Klinsmann was hired on a whim. Klinsmann was a world-renowned striker who had broken South Korea’s hearts in the group stage of the 1999 World Cup in the United States, winning the Bundesliga’s top scorer and the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Player of the Year award.
As a coach, it was a different story. He led the German national soccer team to a third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup on home soil, and he also had a successful stint with the U.S. national team, reaching the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
However, his subsequent coaching stints at Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin were met with starkly mixed reviews. He was sacked after failing to finish the season in charge of the German giants, falling to fourth place in the league, and was at the center of controversy in Berlin when he unilaterally announced his resignation on social media without consulting the club’s management after only 77 days in charge.
It was an uneasy start to his tenure, with no clear reason given for his departure. His resignation came just a year after he took the helm amidst criticism of his remote working practices, unseen tactics, lack of control over the team, and the team’s lack of authenticity during the Asian Cup.
The problem was the transparency of the selection process. There was also talk that Chung Mong-kyu, the president of the Korean Football Association, emphasized name value. In the past, the federation had appointed Uli Stielike, a former Real Madrid legend, who was very good as a player but had nothing to show for his managerial career. He was eventually hired, and the end result was his dismissal just before the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The same can be said for Cannavaro. He was an all-time great defender, but as a coach, he hasn’t really accomplished anything. “He hasn’t found his footing as a 토토사이트 coach yet,” the publication said, “and after three decent years in China, he took a three-year break before taking over at Benevento in February last year, where he had an unconvincing 17 games.”
It’s an unlikely appointment, especially given his recent track record at Benevento. He took charge of Benevento in September 2022 and was sacked in February 2023 after failing to lift the club out of the relegation zone with one win, four draws and two losses in seven league games.
While the Korea Football Association has yet to comment, the media outlet said, “The Italian coach will study the offer over the coming weeks and make a decision before leaving for a tour of the United States at the end of March and two friendlies against Venezuela on March 21 and Ecuador on March 24,” adding, “Cannavaro would have accepted the role if it was for the Italian national team, but that door is not open for the time being, so the South Korean offer is interesting.”
Of course, it’s possible that this is just a rumor. However, the reason for the unease is the FA’s track record. As we saw with Stielike and Klinsmann, they have a history of appointing coaches who had very good careers as players, but who ended up with a sad ending.
The KFA has been treading carefully in selecting its next coach amid criticism from many soccer fans. The National Strength and Conditioning Committee held its second meeting at the Football Hall on Thursday to discuss the appointment of a new national team coach, and it is understood that the March A match will be played under an interim coach. This means that the selection process will be cautious.
It looked like they were going to make a quick decision on a domestic coach, even naming a shortlist of candidates, but it seems they’ve changed their minds after fierce opposition from soccer fans. The rumor that Cannavaro was offered the head coaching job is unsettling to soccer fans. They want the process to be more rational, convincing, and transparent.