Choi Kang-hee named new head coach for S. Korean national football team

SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- Choi Kang-hee, head coach for the reigning South Korean football champion, was named the new national team head coach Wednesday. Choi, 52, replaces Cho Kwang-rae, who was fired two weeks ago after South Korea fell 2-1 to Lebanon in the third round of the regional qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The Korea Football Association (KFA) selected the two-time K-League champion coach after the meeting of its technical committee. Choi takes over a struggling squad facing a must-win game in just two months. In the ongoing third round, South Korea leads Group B with 10 points, tied with Lebanon in points but ahead in the goal differential tiebreaker. Kuwait is in third with eight points and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has zero. The top two nations from each of five groups will reach the fourth and the final qualification phase. Though it is tops in the group, South Korea will still be eliminated if it loses to Kuwait and if Lebanon defeats or draws the UAE in their final group contests in February. South Korea is seeking its eighth straight World Cup appearance and ninth overall. Hwangbo Kwan, head of the technical committee, said Choi was selected for his experience and leadership. "We valued the ability to stabilize the national team and maximize players' capabilities over a short period of time," Hwangbo said. "He has a ton of coaching experience and is a great motivator. Also, he has a deep understanding of Korean football." Hwangbo said while Choi has accepted the job, terms of the contract have not been settled. "It's up to coach Choi himself to speak with the KFA on whether he will only coach the Kuwait match or stay on board beyond that," Hwangbo said. Choi guided the Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to the K-League championships in 2009 and 2011 and won the annual Coach of the Year awards in those two years. Under Choi's watch, the team won the 2006 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League, the region's top club competition, and finished runner-up at this year's Champions League. Before joining Jeonbuk in the middle of 2005 season, Choi was a national team assistant from 2002 to 2004. With Choi employing offense-first strategies, Jeonbuk led the K-League this year with 67 goals in 30 regular season contests. He will be counted on to turn things around for South Korea offensively. In five group matches in the ongoing round, South Korea has netted 12 goals, but half of them came in one game, its 6-0 win over Lebanon in September. It has since had trouble converting chances around the net and has lacked flair or flow on the offensive end. The KFA had earlier said it would actively consider employing a foreign national to lead the national team. Hwangbo declined to divulge names of foreign coaches that were in consideration but said the KFA and one foreign coach went as far as negotiating financial terms of the deal. Asked if Choi was a desperate choice after talks with foreign coaches fell through, Hwangbo said the Korean coach was on the top of the list all along. "I personally met coach Choi three times to persuade him," Hwangbo said. "We had some candidates from overseas but Choi was our top choice." After Dutchman Guus Hiddink led South Korea to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup -- the country's best finish ever -- four foreign coaches have had mixed results and never came close to duplicating Hiddink's success. The last foreigner to coach South Korea was Pim Verbeek from the Netherlands. Since he resigned in August 2007, two South Koreans, Huh Jung-moo and Cho Kwang-rae, had led the national team. (END)