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Paulo Bento Set for Korean Job

Paulo Bento Set for Korean Job
Paulo Bento Set for Korean Job

South Korea ended the rumors surrounding the Portuguese manager Carlos Queiroz move to its national team as the Korea Football Association announced Friday another Portuguese coach Paulo Bento will lead the team.

Managing Iran national team for over seven years (since April 2011), Queiroz took Team Melli twice in a row to the World Cup in 2014 and 2018.

However, his contract with Iran officially expired on July 31 and he has yet to agree to extend his stay in the country despite claims by the president of Football Federation of Iran, Mehdi Taj, that the Portuguese man would lead the team at January’s Asian Cup finals.

Last week rumors regarding Queiroz move to South Korea went viral in the media but the Friday announcement put an end to them all.

Former Portugal boss Bento will coach South Korea over the next four years through the 2022 Qatar World Cup, AFP reported.

Kim Pan-gon, a top KFA official in charge of finding a new coach, expressed hope that with "four years of patience and support" Bento will take their national team to new heights.

He also praised Bento - who took Portugal to the semi-finals of Euro 2012 - for his strength in the knockout stages of competitions.

Bento took the Portuguese reins in 2010 after four seasons in charge of Sporting Lisbon, but was sacked in 2014 after an ignominious home defeat to Albania.

Bento - a tough-tackling defensive midfielder capped 35 times by Portugal - replaces South Korean Shin Tae-yong, whose contract expired last month.

The contract terms remain unclear but his annual wage is expected to be higher than the $1.4 m received by Germany's Uli Stielike, who coached South Korea from 2014-17, Yonhap reported.

South Korea - which reached the World Cup semifinals in 2002 - exited Russia 2018 at the group stage after defeats to Sweden and Mexico, despite stunning Germany to eliminate the defending champion.

South Korea's next major assignment at full international level is January's Asian Cup. They were runner-up to Australia at the last edition of the tournament in 2015.

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