The national soccer team's goal of selecting a coach has reportedly changed and will be choosing from existing Super League head coaches, with Pedro, Jordy and Seo Jung-won being popular candidates. Whether this news is true or not, from a practical point of view, they are a good choice, at least as one of the options.
Among them, Pedro has previously expressed his willingness to coach the national soccer team, and Seo Jung-won has recently expressed his willingness to take on the challenge of being the coach of the national soccer team. Whether or not the soccer association considers them, we might as well discuss: who is the most suitable candidate?
Personal opinion: of the three, Chengdu Rongcheng head coach Xu Zhengyuan is the best choice.
First of all, in terms of the strength of the national football team, Xu Zhengyuan's coaching is very suitable.
Chengdu Rongcheng's squad last season could be described as bland, with many of the homegrown players never having played in the Chinese Super League or being veterans who have returned to the game after many years. The foreigners came from a small source, basically from the K-League, with no bright past, let alone the Big Five, and not even experience playing in the Portuguese Super League or the Dutch First Division. However, under the training of Seo Jung Won, this team has shown great fighting spirit.
The strength of the national soccer team, compared to Pedro and Jordi, Xu Zhengyuan will have more experience. For example, Lippi can lead Guangzhou Evergrande to win the AFC Champions League, but not necessarily lead Chengdu Rongcheng to win the fifth place in the Chinese Super League; different coaches suit different teams. Therefore, Xu Zhengyuan should be the most suitable candidate for the national soccer team among the three, judging from his coaching of Chengdu Rongcheng.
Secondly, Xu Zhengyuan is more familiar with Chinese and Asian soccer.
The current national soccer team is playing against Asian teams, which requires the head coach to have a good understanding of Asian soccer. Wuhan Sanzhen head coach Pedro coached in La Liga before coming to China and has limited knowledge of Asian soccer. Zhejiang head coach Jordy is in a similar situation to Pedro. He had been coaching European soccer before coming to China. Having struggled in Asian soccer from his playing days to his coaching days, Xu Zhengyuan's familiarity with Asian soccer is unmatched by the top two.
Under his training, although Chengdu Rongcheng's players can't "turn the ordinary into magic", many of them have played beyond expectations. For example, veteran Liu Tao and youngster Hu Hetao performed so well last season that few people have heard of them. This is a reflection of Xu Zhengyuan's understanding of Chinese players, and an important reason why he is able to lead Chengdu Rongcheng to success.
Finally, Seo has an advantage when it comes to communicating with players.
From AA to CSL, many Korean coaches have come to Chinese soccer and most of them have done well, even better than European coaches. One of the major reasons for this is the similar cultural habits.
The smooth and effective communication between the head coach and the players will also have a great impact on the strength of the team. Although most of the local players do not understand Korean and cannot communicate directly with Seo Jung-won, the similarity between Chinese and Korean cultures makes it easier to accept each other's way of thinking and expression.
Of course, Pedro and Jordy have their own advantages, but as far as the current national soccer team is concerned, Xu Zhengyuan should be the most suitable candidate. If Xu Zhengyuan is really selected by the soccer association, Chengdu fans will definitely not want to give up!
