AFC coach of the Year 2002

this one seems undisputable to me.


last year's awards: http://www.asian-football.com/scripts/runisa.dll?M2:gp:169672:39913+inside/awards/01/index

 

maybe, but I think it's a bit late for that as I believe some non-Asian coaches have already won the awards in the past. Troussier is the most recent one I believe.

The award itself is "AFC Coach of the Year" not "Asian Coach of the Year." In other words, the competition is open to anybody that coaches a team under the Asian Football Confederation.

 

I disagree.
Your comment is ignoring the fact that Hiddink indeed did create a formidable team.

Even before the World Cup 2002 started, Korea tied England 1-1 , smashed Scotland 4-1, and lost by a landslide to France 2-3. If you complain about "bad refereeing," Korea had to get a pk against France, un-dis-allow the goal against Turkey and Portugal, and the list could go on and on.

You are ignoring the very true fact that Korea indeed became a strong team under Hiddink. S.Korea dominated almost all the games against its opponents in the World Cup. S.Korea beat Poland,USA,Portugal,Italy and Turkey in both ball possession and number of shots. In other words, S.Korea controlled those opponents in terms of GAME-PLAY.

Aside from the fact that your call "bad refereeing" is merely your personal opinion, you're trying to cover up the truth that Korea PLAYED WELL against its opponents REGARDLESS of the RESULTS.

BTW, if you want MY opinion, all the "controversy" comes from giving the yellow to Totti, and the 2 "disalowed goals" against Spain. But the shots taken during the game showed that the first "disallowed goal" for Spain was a legit call as the pictures proved that a Spanish player indeed commit a foul. The second one is the real controversial one which NOBODY can be sure. The yellow card against Totti(which eventually accumulated into a red) may be also tricky, but the fact that Song touched the ball FIRST and didn't touch Totti at all until Totti fell down himself proves that it surely shouldn't have been a pk for Italy. Totti's be diving sooo many times during the game that it wasn't surprising to see the ref flip in the end.


Again, aside from your and my personal opinions, you can't possibly deny the way the Koreans played. Korea simply outperformed teams like Potugal and Italy by dominating the game-play. It's not like a crappy team which played crappy all the way all of a sudden won the games through the ref.

The ONLY continental Asian Championship called the "Asian Cup" will be held in 2004.

Be careful.
What you are confusing is the misunderstanding the Olympics as the World Cup.

Some people seem to be getting confused, but the Asian GAMES is NOT the the Asian CUP. It is nowhere close to the level of the Asian CUP which is to be held in 2004 at China. Asian GAMES is an Olympic version of Asia. And they happen to have football tournment in it just like how the Olympics have a football tournament. When teams like Japan and China sent their U21 squads, there was a reason for it. In Asian Games 1998, Korea and Japan all sent U21 teams.(Most Middle Eastern teams sent full national teams though)

*Asian Games football tournament is not officially recognized as a "football tournament" by FIFA. That shows the level of the Asian Games football tournament. Asian CUP is the legitimate continental championship in Asia which Japan is the defending nation.

ONE victory in the World Cup is enough to outweigh the Asian Games. So the award was pretty much set to either Hiddink or Troussier just by that. Of course, the two coaches accomplished a lot more than just a win at the world's most pretigious football stage.

 

Guus Hiddink wins the AFC Coach of the Year award.