“Although there are no results yet, I have confirmed that he is interested in taking over the South Korean team,” Lee Yong-soo, chairman of the technical committee at the Korea Football Association (KFA), said.
Lee, who was named to head the technical committee in late July, was briefing reporters in Seoul on the results of his two-hour meeting with van Marwijk in the Netherlands.
Lee left for Amsterdam on Aug. 5 for talks with the Dutch manager who has emerged as the most-favored candidate for head coach of the South Korean team. The post was vacated July 10 when Hong Myung-bo resigned in the wake of South Korea’s early exit from the round of 16 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
He forecast that negotiations with van Marwijk will be concluded in a week, saying that the KFA has not contacted any other foreign candidates on its list.
Earlier, KFA sources said that members of the technical committee have agreed to hire an European manager for the national team.
South Korea failed to advance to the second round in Brazil as it went winless – two losses and a draw - in Group H preliminary matches, its worst World Cup performance since 1998.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
