The Korean Football Association's World Cup post-mortem held in Seoul last Monday was a pointless affair that left a bad taste in the mouth.
It was the organization's technical committee that held the press conference. The ten-man body is an unwieldy one with uncertain responsibilities and has not covered itself with glory in the past. Perhaps then, what unfolded was not surprising.
In the middle of Seoul, a city in the middle of a unusually severe monsoon season, the committee, chaired by Lee Young-moo, unleashed their opinions on what had happened during the competition in Germany, one in which the national team collected four points but didn't make it to the second round.
Over in St. Petersburg, Dick Advocaat's ears must have been burning. The coach, who took control of the team in October last year, was showered with a certain amount of praise for his leadership and motivational skills but his tactics were questioned by the administrators in a way best kept behind closed doors.
"He should have tested the three-back formation in at least one warm-up game," said chairman Lee Young-moo. "The Korean players, used to the four-back system, were confused in their new roles and failed to focus on the play."
Another member, Shin Hyun-ho, remarked that Korea should have tried to secure a more convincing victory against Togo.
"Togo was a player short and Korea should have pressed the team harder," said Shin Hyun-ho. "It's regrettable for Advocaat to have ordered players to make a safe play at the end of the game. He seems to have been satisfied with just a victory, but he should have thought about goal difference."
Even if these observations are correct - though they are merely echoes of what the media has been saying over the past month - it is not the KFA's job to publicly criticize tactics. Rather, the technical committee appoints a coach, gives him the support he needs and when he leaves, does the same again.
The sight of administrators announcing their opinions a full month after the issue had already been debated to death among media and fans was an unedifying one.
Their viewpoints also included second-guesses and assumptions, and the fact that they were trying to present these as some kind of official Korean version of the events of the 2006 World Cup was laughable - such behavior is usually the prerogative of journalists!
It would have been slightly more palatable if Advocaat was there in person to defend himself against the people who pretended to have all the answers.
The Dutchman is in Russia with new club Zenit St. Petersburg and would surely have enjoyed sparring with his former employers but it is unlikely they would have felt the same. To hold the conference in such a manner looked like cowardice.
What about Pim Verbeek? The new coach of the national team was Advocaat's assistant from the time when they arrived in East Asia last October to the final whistle of the Switzerland game in Hanover on June 23.
The week before he arrives in Korea to start his new role, the 48-year-old is hardly likely to find the sight of his employers criticizing his predecessor and colleague of the last 18 months especially motivating.
As mentioned, the committee praised Advocaat's preparation in difficult circumstances - he had only eight months to prepare for the competition. It is generally accepted that there was not much more that the ex-Rangers boss could have done to get the team ready for the World Cup.
There was no mention of why the national team was without a coach with the biggest sporting event in the world just around the corner.
No mention of the KFA's incompetence, short-sightedness and mistakes over the preceding three years that were far more damaging to the national team's ability to compete with the very best than any tactical errors that Advocaat may have made. The technical committee penchant for evading responsibility is not new but it is still shocking.
One thing is for sure, Advocaat did more for the national team in the past eight months than the technical committee has managed in the past four years and any attempt to make the Dutchman the scapegoat for the first round exit is simply wrong.
The conference should have been a positive and worthwhile affair. The theme of the meeting should have been "Lessons to be learned" or "Planning for the future". The meeting should have been focused on the future and the short-term and long-term plans instead it was overshadowed by pointless criticisms of a departed coach.
The early exit from the World Cup, still Korea's most successful in a foreign country, has led to a welcome realization in the country that there is a great deal of work to be done to ensure that the national team can succeed in future World Cups.
Unfortunately the technical committee doesn't seem to be up to the job.
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Pim Verbeek Interview
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