Former South Korean national soccer team coach Paulo Bento will appear on the Asian stage again.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Football Association announced on its official website on the 10th (Korea Standard Time) that Portuguese coach Bento will be appointed as the head coach of the UAE national soccer team.
The contract period is three years, and the term will be until the 2026 FIFA North-Central America World Cup.
The UAE Association cited rich leadership experience, stability, and the presence of leading the team as its main strengths, including coaching experience for Portugal and the Korean national soccer team, Portugal, Greece, China, and Brazil.
The association expected, “I will take charge 안전놀이터추천 of the team for three years to instill stability in the team and create an atmosphere suitable for realizing my desire.”
Coach Bento said, “The UAE national team has important events. In particular, the 2026 North-Central America World Cup qualifying round will begin in November. Furthermore, the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup is in January next year. Our aspiration is too great.”
The association presented Bento with the goal of advancing to the semifinals of the Qatar Asian Cup and the North, Central and South American World Cup finals. The North-Central America World Cup, which will increase the number of participating teams to 48 countries, is expected to be a new opportunity for the UAE.
Bento took over as the head coach of the South Korean national soccer team in August 2018 and led it for four and a half years. At the 2019 UAE Asian Cup, he lost to Qatar in the quarterfinals and suffered a setback.
Since then, Bento has started to put soccer on the national team that aims to quickly switch to offense following his ball possession and led South Korea to the World Cup finals for the 10th consecutive time (7 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss) in the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian qualifiers.
In Qatar, Bento also stuck to his style and this worked on the world stage. South Korea, which is in a group with Uruguay, Ghana and Portugal, pushed third-place Uruguay from multiple points with one win, one draw, and one loss, and four points, leading the team to the round of 16 for the second time ever.
When the referee had to give a corner kick just before the end of the 2-3 loss against Ghana, South Korean players protested fiercely, and Bento rushed in instead of the players and showed leadership to protect them.
Bento watched the final match against Portugal in the stands, not on the bench, but South Korea made history by completing a dramatic 2-1 come-from-behind victory with Bento’s soccer, which has been with him for four and a half years.
Bento left Korea without renewing his contract and has been taking a break since then. Having been linked to other national teams such as Poland and Ecuador, he finally chose UAE.
