The possibility of coach Vahid Halilhodzic (71, Bosnia), who gave the Korean national football team the ‘Brazil nightmare’, will take the lead of the Korean national team has been raised.
Nacional, a Croatian media, reported on the 29th that in an article titled, ‘Will coach Halil Hodzic take over the Korean national team?’, “Coach Halil Hodzic has been named as a candidate for the new national team coaching position by the Korea Football Association.”
Also, Radio Sarajevo, a Bosnian media, 스포츠토토 reported that director Halil Hodzic said, “I received a call from Korea.”
Coach Halil Hodzic is a familiar name to domestic soccer fans.
This is because he was the command tower of Algeria, which defeated Korea 4-2, which was then coached by Hong Myung-bo, in the second round of the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Korea drew 1-1 with Russia in the first leg of the 2014 World Cup group stage in Brazil, and met Algeria in the second leg.
Belgium won 1-0 in the second match between Belgium and Russia prior to the match between Korea and Algeria. If Korea defeated Algeria, Belgium would win 2 and Korea would win 1 and draw 1, raising hopes of advancing to the round of 16. all.
However, Korea, which was unexpectedly beaten 2-4 by Algeria, accepted the worst result in the third match of the group stage, losing 0-1 to Belgium, in which 10 players fought, with one player sent off.
Algeria, led by coach Halilhodzic, showed an impressive performance by advancing to the round of 16 at the time and going into overtime against Germany.
In an interview with Radio Sarajevo, coach Halil Hodzic explained, “The phone call with Korea ended briefly,” and “There are many calls from the professional team.” This means that it is not only South Korea’s offer.
After the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he was also mentioned as a candidate for the Korean national team coach, and his fiery personality is his trademark.
Even during his tenure as coach of Algeria, he had an uncomfortable relationship with the association and reporters, and during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he was the head coach of Cote d’Ivoire, but was dismissed four months before the opening of the World Cup.
In addition, in April 2018, when he was holding the command of the Japanese national team, he was notified of his dismissal with about two months left before the opening of the World Cup in Russia, and in August, about three months before the opening of the World Cup in Qatar last year, he was kicked out of the position as coach of the Moroccan national team.
Most of them were due to discord with the association, and when he was a Moroccan coach, he had a conflict with the association over the appointment of Hakim Ziyasi and Nusayr Mazrawi.
With three months left before the opening of the World Cup, Morocco pulled out the card of “replacement of manager” and caused a surprise by reaching the semifinals under the leadership of Walid Lakraki.
The Korea Football Association is looking for a successor for coach Paulo Bento, and through domestic and foreign media reports, Jose Bordalas (59, Spain), former Valencia coach, Chichi (61, Brazil), former Brazil coach, and Thorsten Fink (56, Germany) Former Hamburg coaches are being discussed.