Park Han-seo’s Vietnam face reigning champions Thailand in AFF Championship final

Vietnam coach Park Han-seo reacts during a match against Thailand during the Southeast Asian Games on May 22, 2022. [AP/YONHAP]

Vietnam’s Park Han-seo is the only South Korean manager to reach the final of the AFF Championship, defeating Shin Tae-young’s Indonesia in the semi-finals and Kim Pang-gon’s Malaysia to tie the defending champions on the other side of the bracket. lost to

Thailand beat Malaysia 3-0 on Tuesday to fall behind a 1-0 aggregate two-game lead to secure a final berth in the final, ending a semi-final dominated by the South Korean coach. .

Park’s Vietnam, after drawing 0-0 with Indonesia in the first leg of the semi-finals, won the second leg 2-0 on Monday to set up a Vietnam-Thailand final.

Although there is only one South Korean left now, the participation of three veteran coaches in the semi-finals underscores the role Korean coaches are playing in the development of football in Southeast Asia. Park, Shin and Kim have held senior positions with the Taegeuk Warriors in South Korea and applied their experience to various posts in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam’s Nguyen Quang Hai celebrates with his teammates during their semifinal match against Indonesia at the AFF Championship in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]

Of the three, Park is perhaps the most well-known, having previously been an assistant coach for South Korea at the 2002 World Cup. Since joining Vietnam, Park has quickly become a national hero and the face of significant football reform in Vietnam.

Park, who was also in charge of the U-23 team, led Vietnam to the final of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, defeating stronger teams such as Australia, Iraq and Qatar along the way. led the senior team to the semi-finals of the 2018 Asian Games, followed by winning the 2018 AFF Championship.

A year later, Vietnam reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and won the gold medal at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Nearly all of these achievements were new to Vietnam, or at least the first since the country was unified.

However, the AFF Championship will be Park’s last tournament in Vietnam. He is set to step down next January after five years at the helm of the team.

Shin is a familiar face to Korean soccer fans. As a national team player he won the cap 23 times, Shin spent all of South Korea in his K-League in Seongnam.

He later managed Seongnam, taking over briefly as the national team’s interim manager in 2014, assisting Uli Stielike until 2017. Shin managed both South Korea’s U23 and U20 teams before taking command of the senior team in 2017 and his 2018 season. Russia World Cup.

He joined Indonesia in 2020 and led the team to the final of that year’s AFF Championship. In 2022, Indonesia qualified for the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in 16 years.

Kim is a low profile coach who has spent most of his playing and coaching career in Hong Kong. After spending several years as a coach, he was appointed as the technical director of the Korean Football Association in 2017, and has been in the spotlight for being in charge of recruiting coaches for the South Korean national team.

After spending five years with the South Korean national team, Kim was appointed head coach of the Malaysia national team in January this year. He has already seen some success in Vietnam, qualifying the team for the first time in 42 years to qualify for next year’s AFC Asian Cup.

The teams of Park and Vietnam will face Thailand, led by Brazilian-German coach Aleksandr Polking, in the AFF Championship final. The second game he will play on Monday, January 16th.

Jim Bree [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]