One of the key points of interest in the upcoming friendly soccer A match between South Korea and Vietnam on July 17 at 8 p.m. in Suwon will be the presence of Vietnam’s head coach Philippe Trousier, 68.
Trousier, a Frenchman with 40 years of coaching experience, was the head coach of the Japanese national team from the late 1990s to the early 2000s and has played against Korea several times. Heo Jung-moo and Trousier, as well as Gus Hiddink and Trousier, battled for the pride of Korean and Japanese soccer. At the Bangkok Asian Games in December 1998, a multi-goal performance by Choi Yong-soo gave South Korea a 2-0 victory, while two friendlies in April 2000 and December 2000 resulted in 1-1 draws in favor of South Korea. At the senior national team level, South Korea edged Trucier Japan 2-1, but Trucier, who was also the youth national team coach at the time, was responsible for an embarrassing 1-4 loss in a September 1999 match between the Olympic teams.
After introducing possession football to Japan, Trucier led the team to a runner-up finish at the 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup, a quarterfinal finish at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, a win at the 2000 Asian Cup, a runner-up finish at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the 2002 World Cup in Korea, where he became a “national hero” by giving Japanese soccer its first World Cup win, first victory, and first tournament appearance. After the tournament, he was nicknamed “Japan’s De Gaulle,” a reference to French World War II hero Charles de Gaulle, and a shrine was built in his honor in Japan. He was inducted into the Japan Soccer Hall of Fame in 2020. Toussaint’s eccentric behavior and unorthodox tactics still receive mixed reviews. After Trousier, Japan appointed a series of foreign coaches, including Chico and Ibicha Oshim, to build the national team’s foundation. South Korea also turned to foreign coaches, partly influenced by Trousier. Gus Hiddink, who led South Korea to the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup quarterfinals, was also appointed in this atmosphere.토토사이트
After leaving Japan after the World Cup, Trucier continued his association with Korean and Asian soccer for more than a decade. He briefly managed the Qatar national team in 2004 and has been in charge of Shenzhen Ruby and Hangzhou Greentown in China since 2011. Early in his coaching career, Trousier, who was dubbed the “White Wizard” for his success with African teams, expressed direct interest in taking charge of the South Korean national team, which qualified for the 2005 and 2006 World Cups in Germany. At the time, Dutch coach Dick Advocaat was appointed. After the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Trousier was on the list of candidates for the job, but after a long search, the KFA chose Cho Kwang-rae, a coach with a penchant for “cartoon soccer. He was never able to connect with the South Korean national team.
Trousier made headlines when he advised the Japanese team to “do like Korea” as they aimed to reach the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He advised the Japanese to abandon possession football, referring to the organized defense and quick counterattacks that helped them win against Germany at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Japan went on to defeat Germany and Spain in the group stage, but lost to Croatia in the round of 16 and failed to reach the quarterfinals.
Tru Xie, who was appointed technical director of the Vietnam Football Academy at the end of 2018 and has been a key figure in the country’s youth development, was previously the head coach of Vietnam’s U19 national team before taking over as head coach of the national team and youth national team in March, a position that became vacant following the departure of Park Hang-seo. The French coach, who played against South Korea and Japan 20 years ago, will face South Korea as a gray-haired, 70-year-old veteran.
Trucier has lost the confidence of the Vietnamese fans after back-to-back 0-2 losses to China on Oct. 10 and Uzbekistan on Oct. 13. “When we play strong teams like Korea, we only have 30-35 percent of the ball,” he said, acknowledging the reality and stressing the need to improve defensive organization and counterattacks.
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