Shin appointed South Korea soccer coach

Jul 4, 2017 - 9:57 AM South Korea have appointed Shin Tae-yong as coach and charged the former Asian Champions League winning boss with taking the team to the 2018 World Cup.

The 46-year-old Shin replaces German Uli Stielike, who was fired in June after a third defeat in five qualifiers, as the Taegeuk Warriors seek to avoid missing the World Cup finals for the first time since 1982.

"Shin previously worked as assistant coach for the national team and that's why he knows the players more than anyone else," recently appointed technical director of the Korea Football Association Kim Ho-gon said.

As well as his experience as No.2 to Stielike, Shin led the under-23 South Korea team to the last eight of the Rio Olympics and the under-20s to the second round of last year's U-20 World Cup, played on home soil.

Shin, a former midfielder who made 23 appearances for South Korea, established his reputation as an attacking coach when leading K-League club Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma to the 2010 ACL title.

South Korea are second in Group A in the third round of qualification for next year's World Cup with two games remaining, a point above third-places Uzbekistan. Only the top two automatically advance to Russia.

South Korea host already-qualified Iran on August 31 and travel to Tashkent for what could be a decisive match against Uzbekistan five days later.

Source: AAP