Dejan Jurjevic, the new coach, did not expect to be in charge of the Chinese national team.
The men's football team, led by coach Hong Myung-bo, will kick off the EAFF E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) on July 7 at Yongin Mir Stadium. Hong's team will begin with the tournament opener against China at 8 p.m. on the 7th, followed by matches against Hong Kong at 8 p.m. on the 11th and Japan at 7:24 p.m. on the 15th.
Korea has built the team centered around players from the K-League and J-League. The East Asian Cup is not organized by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), so European players cannot be called up.
On the afternoon of the 6th, a press conference was held at Yongin Mir Stadium, one day before the tournament's opening. Coaches Hong Myung-bo from Korea, Hajime Moriya from Japan, Dejan Jurjevic from China, and Ashley Westwood from Hong Kong took the stage together to express their aspirations.
After confirming their elimination from the World Cup qualifiers in North and Central America, the Chinese national team dismissed coach Branco Ivankovic on the 27th of last month and promoted Dejan Jurjevic, who was the U20 national team coach, to the head coach of the senior team.
In the context of the Chinese national team coaching position, former South Korea national team coaches Shin Tae-yong and Paulo Bento were mentioned as candidates. It was an unprecedented topic of interest in Korea regarding which coach China would select.
Less than two weeks after his appointment, coach Jurjevic will make his debut against Korea. Chinese media has already expressed high expectations, predicting a victory for China.
Jurjevic noted, "I am happy to be in Korea. I congratulate Korea and Japan on their World Cup qualification. I hope we can also have a good start. I expect the newly selected players to perform well."
Many Chinese reporters came to Korea and inundated him with questions. They asked how well the coach has understood the players, expressing concerns about having a novice coach.
Jurjevic joked, "In fact, I have only been a coach for a few days. I did not expect to become a coach either. Haha. A lot of new players have come to this team, but I have seen many of them during my time with the U20 national team."
Contrary to reports from Chinese media, Jurjevic remained humble. He did not guarantee a simple victory against Korea and Japan. He said, "While serving as the coach for the Asian Games, I faced Korea four times. Each time I played against Korea and Japan, it was a difficult match. Although Korea and Japan are centered around domestic league players, they are teams that play their own style of football. Both teams are still contenders for the championship," he said, downplaying his own expectations.
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