Korean Soccer
Andy Egli recently resigned from K-League club Busan I'Park after a year in South Korea. That experience didn't put the ex-Switzerland international defender and FC Thun coach off the country however and, as he told Soccerphile's John Duerden, he wants to become the next coach of the South Korean national team.
You left Busan over a month ago. Why did you resign?
There were two main reasons. First of all, the results were not that good. Secondly, there were too many differences with the management of the club and I couldn’t continue like that. I offered to resign and after thinking about it for a week, they decided to accept my resignation. That was Ok for me.
What kind of differences?
I don’t want to go into specifics. In any relationship with any people –friends, couples, it is the same thing. With the management of the group, the development of the group, eventually, you have to decide whether to stay together, to try and find a compromise or to stop.
Were any problems regarding the departure of Brazilian players Popo and Somalia?
Not at all. Of course, there were a lot of questions regarding the improvement of the squad and the quality of the squad. There was not one reason.
If you had a chance again, what would you do differently?
This is the kind of question I don’t like. You can’t make the same situation happen twice. I would like to return to Korea because it is a very interesting country in football. I have no problems with the mentality of the people, with dealing with things. I would welcome the opportunity for a new challenge in Korea.
What kind of job would you like?
On a federation level or professional club level there are always possibilties. If there are people who want to build something with a lot of will, determination and patience and passion then I would be delighted.
When you mention federation, you are talking about the national team?
Verbeek has quit. I don’t know the thoughts of the KFA, how they want to deal with the challenges with coaching Korea. I have sent an application to the KFA because when I heard that Verbeek resigned, I wanted to them to know that I would really like the job.
If you have an interview, one question would be about the fact that when you left Busan were next-to-bottom in the league, how can you persuade people in Korea that you can be a good national team coach?
During that year in Busan I proved that I am able to build up the structure within a club and help develop tactical aspects. I think people enjoyed watching Busan play. The results were not as good as we expected but the football we played was exciting. We tried to go forward and we coached the players in a way that they could easily improve.
I think that it was just a question of time to see the results that everybody expected. People who came to watch Busan in Busan or anywhere else saw a team that tried to go forward and this is the way for all Korean teams to improve.
What are the problems of the national team and how would you solve them?
In the Asian Cup, the number of players that were not there was important. Statistically, there were three games with no goals. It is obvious what the problem is. It is also a K-League problem, Korean players have to improve in the box, they have to take attacking positions. Compared to the highest levels in Europe and South America, they are not that good. I think over the next years, coaches in Korea have to work on those things.
Koreans can defend well but this shouldn’t take away from the team’s attacking capabilities. A good balance between defending effectively and attacking in a way to create chances and socre goals is what they need.
That’s quite general. Is there anything specific you would change quickly that would help the national team?
The tournament showed that Korea could have won the semi-final and final on penalties. If Korea would have won for the first time in 47 years, then anybody would have been happy.
In the short term, you can't change. It’s constant work, coaching, supporting players, in order to give them self-confidence that they can take good positions at the highest level. It is a process that will not change today or tomorrow.
Korean football in general and individual players will continue to improve and they will win the Asian Cup again, the next World Cup they can get good result. The condition is that they continue to work on their coaching skills and their mental skills and a lot of work in both penalty boxes.
Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com