Dejan Damanovic, a “legend” foreign player in the K League, responded by saying, “It’s no surprise” at the news that Korean soccer has failed to advance to the Olympics.
Dejan commented on social media on the 27th that it could happen, saying, “It’s incredible news, but it’s not a surprise.”
Earlier, the South Korean U-23 national soccer team, led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong, faced Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar, on the 25th, and was eliminated after a penalty shootout.
The competition also served as a preliminary match for Asia for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and thus had to be ranked at least in the top four. After failing to advance to the quarterfinals, Korea failed to advance to the Olympic finals for the first time in 40 years. Korea has long been a regular at the Olympics, reaching the finals for nine consecutive times including the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, but it has become an old saying.
Dejan, who played for a long time in Korea, said, “It’s an unbelievable situation, but it’s not surprising.”
Dejan had played in the same team with Hwang when he was playing in the K-League. Dejan played for FC Seoul from 2008 to 2013. After that, he moved to the Chinese league and returned to Seoul in 2016. Dejan played in Seoul for two more years. It was during that time that he became acquainted with Hwang, who took the helm of Seoul from 2016 to 2018. Dejan left for Suwon Samsung in 2018.
Coach Hwang Sun-hong returned to Korea on the 27th.
In an official interview, he said, “I think the responsibility rests entirely with me. I feel the responsibility. However, our players have to grow a lot and I think they did their best in times of difficulties. I hope they give us more encouragement than criticism.”
Coach Hwang Sun-hong voiced the need to change the short-term management of national teams by age. 토토사이트
“I know it sounds like a ping ji, but I think the operating structure and system of the national team of the age group should absolutely change. What I have felt over the past two years is that the gap (with other countries) will widen further with the current system. It’s difficult to tell you everything here, but I think we need to listen to the voices of the field and work together to find a way,” he said.
“We have to go every four years. If a coach’s lifespan depends on his performance in the Asian Games, he has no choice but to focus on the Asian Games. I had to focus on the Asian Games in September last year. After the Asian Games, I had to focus on the Asian Games in April. I only had a few months to prepare. With that structure, there is no way that we can completely subdue the rival team in Asia. We have to change it,” Hwang said.