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Chinese fans also actively want head coach Paulo Bento.
China's Sohu Dotcom said on the 22nd (Korea time) 'After the Chinese national soccer team suffered in the preliminary round of the 2026 North-China World Cup, the appointment of a coach became a key issue in the Chinese Football Association's rebuilding plan. To date, the association has received more than 40 leadership applications. The criteria for the appointment of a director have also become clear. He is 45-60 years old, has an annual salary of up to 2 million euros (about 3.2 billion won), has an understanding of Asian soccer, has long-term club coaching experience, and is demanding realists who will accept counterattack tactics for weak teams.
The first person mentioned is Bento. Sohu said 'Bentu made a remarkable move on the Asian stage during the 2018-2022 Korean national team leadership. With a 5-3-2 formation of counter-attack tactics, he advanced his team to the round of 16 at the World Cup and showed a flexible defense against strong teams such as Germany and Uruguay' complimented.
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It is true that Bento showed good performance by reaching the round of 16 at the World Cup, but it was difficult to agree with the evaluation that he used a five-back-based counterattack strategy. Bento instilled a four-hundred-based possession football in the Korean national team and reached the round of 16 by capturing both the performance and contents.
"More importantly, he has experience of trying 300 tactics in Chongqing Lippan, so he understands the speed of play in the Chinese Super League and the technical limitations of Chinese players." Tactical philosophy emphasizes quick transition and forward pressure, which erases the weaknesses of the Chinese midfield. Bento's annual salary demand is 1.2 million euros (about 1.9 billion won), less than 60% of the budget cap, and there is no need for a contract termination fee.
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The head coaches mentioned with Bento were all familiar figures to Korean fans. They included Roger Schmidt, who previously coached Kim Min-jae in Beijing Guoan, Jesus Casas, who was once a candidate for the Korean national team's head coach, and Seo Jung-won, who has recently had a difficult time in Chengdu Lungcheng.
Regarding coach Seo Jung-won, he also recorded the minimum number of goals (0.8 goals per game) in the Chinese league in the 2025 season with a 5-4-1 defense system in Chengdu. He gave a positive assessment, saying, 'We can compensate for China's weaknesses (average 1.8 runs per qualifying match) by emphasizing systematic defense and set-piece tactics. But he pointed out that nationality is a problem because he is a Korean coach facing implicit resistance within the association.
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Finally, Sohu added that the preference for online fan voting is in order of Bento's lead at 32%, Schmidt 28% (acknowledged as tactical innovation), and Seo Jeong-won 19% (practical defenders). Bento was the next head coach most preferred by Chinese fans.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
