S. Korea To Start 2022 World Cup Quest With Paulo Bento

SEOUL, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Aug, 2018 ) :South Korea's quest to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has begun after the country's football governing body on Friday appointed Paulo Bento as the head coach for the men's national football team.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) on Friday announced that it signed Bento to a contract that will run through the 2022 World Cup. Bento will make his South Korea debut next month when they host Costa Rica and Chile in friendly matches.

After South Korea failed to reach the round of 16 at the 2018 FIFA World Cup under homegrown coach Shin Tae-yong, the KFA started searching for a new national team boss who can expand the country's presence in international football.

With Shin, South Korea beat world No. 1 Germany 2-0 at the World Cup in Russia, but even that victory couldn't send the national team to the knockout stage as they previously fell to Sweden and Mexico.

Kim Pan-gon, who heads the national team coach appointment committee at the KFA, said in July that he planned to find the new head coach for the national team before August, but the searching process went longer than expected.

Kim made his trip to Europe in early July to negotiate with the candidates for the coaching job with Names like Luiz Felipe Scolari, Carlos Queiroz, Vahid Halilhodzic, Jurgen Klinsmann and Carlos Osorio thrown out by media.

After returning from his first European trip, a KFA source said that Kim had trimmed the list of candidates to three. And when Kim made his second trip to Europe last week, expectations were high that he would finalize the deal, with Queiroz and Halilhodzic still mentioned as top candidates.

The situation, however, turned the other way as new names came out, with Quique Sanchez Flores, Slaven Bilic and Paulo Bento rising as possible candidates.

According to sources, Bento wasn't South Korea's first choice as South Korean football fans expressed high hopes on bringing Quique Flores, who showed an impressive style of football with teams like Valencia and Atletico Madrid. Kim, however, was apparently moved by Bento's passion and style of football.

"Bento pursues a high-pressing game that doesn't allow the opponents to build up their attacking process," Kim said at a press conference at the KFA House in Seoul. "He is professional, charismatic, and has passion and confidence."