What We're Reading
American candidate for South Korea job
- AP, Thursday, December 8, 2011 3:31 PM
American Afshin Ghotbi is among the candidates for the South Korean national team coaching job following the dismissal of Cho Kwang Rae after 18 months on the job. South Korea has struggled in World Cup 2014 qualifying. It needs one point against Kuwait in February to move on to the final round.
Ghotbi, who was born in Iran and raised in California, is a former assistant coach with the South Korean national team. He just completed his first year as the head coach of the Japanese club
Shimizu S-Pulse. He had previously coached Iran.
"I am honored to be mentioned as a possible candidate to be the next coach of the South Korea team," Ghotbi said. "I have happy memories
of my time in Korean soccer and have strong affection for the players and fans. At the moment however, I am fully focused on ending the season with a trophy for S-Pulse in the Emperor's Cup. I have
worked very hard building foundations over the past year and hope to reach the club targets next season."
Two Koreans have ruled themselves out of consideration: Choi Kang Hee, who led Jeonbuk Motors to the 2011 K-League title, and former Los Angeles Galaxy defender Hong Myung Bo, who was captain of the
2002 World Cup team and is now an Olympic team coach.
