Après le portugais Coelho et sous la pression des supporters, Bonfrere a été démis de ses fonctions de sélectionneur de la Corée du Sud.
Ses résultats avaient été très très décevant (10 victoires, 5 nuls et 6 défaites) et le jeu produit aussi pauvre que celui de Monaco actuellement ;-)
Etonnant tout de même de virer un sélectionneur peu avant une coupe du monde. Et qui va lui succéder...


Bonfrere Steps Down as National Team Coach



National football team coach Jo Bonfrere was finally dismissed by the Korea Football Association (KFA) on Tuesday with less than 10 months left until the 2006 World Cup.
The football’s governing body said that Bonfrere expressed his intention to resign Tuesday, which it accepted in the technical committee’s meeting on Wednesday.
``Bonfrere said that he can quit the job if the technical committee agrees,’’ the KFA’s vice president Lee Hoi-taek said after a four-hour meeting at KFA headquarters in Seoul. ``We accepted his resignation because we think it would be difficult for him to execute his job in this circumstance.’’
Lee said that the KFA will appoint a new coach next month but added that they didn’t discuss the details of the hiring procedure or possible candidates.
On various Internet polls, several foreign and Korean coaches are being named as candidates for the new coach who will lead the team in Germany. Among them, Suwon Bluewings coach Cha Bum-keun led the poll on www.yahoo.co.kr, while Pim Verbeek, former assistant coach of Guus Hiddink, and Ian Porterfield, manager of Busan I’Park, have received a significant number of votes.
Bonfrere, whose tenure was to end during June’s World Cup final round, is leaving the commanding post after coaching the team for 14 months. He was brought in by the KFA on June 24, 2004, as a replacement for Portuguese coach Humberto Coelho, who also was forced to quit after the same amount of time.
Bonfrere was the fifth foreign manager in the South Korean national team’s history, following Dettmar Cramer, Anatoli Bychovets, Guus Hiddink and Coelho. Among the five, Hiddink was the only one to reach the end of his term.
``We acknowledge that Bonfrere has helped South Korea to advance to the World Cup finals for sixth straight time, but we are doubtful that he can make a satisfying result in the final round,’’ said Kang Shin-woo, a member of the 10-man committee. ``The people of Korea want a coach who can make better result.’’
Bonfrere didn’t attend the meeting and was unable to be contacted during the press conference. But during Sunday’s K-League All-Star match, he had said that he would like to have another chance with the national team and what he needs is more time to train.
Bonfrere has been facing heavy criticism from fans and media recently since South Korea lost to Saudi Arabia in last Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier. Though the team already confirmed their spot in Germany, the loss came as a big disappointment to fans in addition to the team’s poor performances earlier this month in the East Asian Cup, where they ended in last place.
Since Bonfrere took over the job in June 2004, South Korea recorded 10 wins, six losses and five draws and they failed to impress in major football events.
It is not the first time for the Dutchman to feel the pressure since he came to Korea one year and two months ago. He first faced criticism after being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup tournament last year, but was saved by December’s dramatic 3-1 win over Germany in a friendly match in Pusan (Busan).
The pressure increased earlier this year when South Korea lost 2-0 to Saudi Arabia in the World Cup qualifier. But this time, it was new striker Park Chu-young, then 19, who saved the Dutchman and the team by scoring a precious equalizer against Ukraine. And a 4-0 rout over out-of-form Kuwait in June had made his position a bit solider, only until they were defeated by Saudi Arabia again in this month.