South Korea boss Paulo Bento has told his players he's leaving his post after their World Cup exit.
The Asian nation were well beaten by one of the tournament favourites in the last 16. South Korea needed a late winner against Portugal to advance to the World Cup knockout stages, but were no match for Brazil who were 4-0 up by half-time.
South Korea did pull one back late on as they scored the only goal of the second-half, but Bento has decided it is time for a change in the dugout. He's been in charge since 2018, winning a continental tournament in 2019, but has now opted to take some time away from management.
He said: “I have just announced to the players and the president of the federation that this is a decision I took in September. It is set in stone and I have confirmed it. I have to thank everyone for everything they have done. From now onwards we have to think about the future. I’m going to rest and we have to see what will happen after I rest. We have to congratulate Brazil because they were better than us."
Vinicius Jnr opened the scoring for Brazil early on before Neymar was able to double the lead from the spot on his return from injury. Richarlison capped a brilliant team goal to make it three and Lucas Paqueta fired home his side's fourth shortly before the interval, leaving the game all but done by half-time before Bento delivered his post-match message.
A spokesperson did jump in to deny the fact Bento was quitting, instead claiming the manager was taking a rest, but it does look like the former Sporting Lisbon boss has left his role. The Portuguese coach has become the third coach to depart at this World Cup.
South Korea were Asia's last World Cup representatives after Japan had been knocked out of the competition just hours before against Croatia. It leaves Europe, South America and Africa as the only three continents still participating in Qatar.
The Asian's set-up was heavily criticised by Graeme Souness, who claimed their gameplan was incredibly naive. He said on ITV : "Korea played with naivety beyond belief at this stage of the World Cup. What kind of game they think they were going to get against Brazil tonight other than a Brazil that want to get on the front foot, show how clever they are.
"Get into the game, half hour keep a clean sheet and see where the game’s taking you. From minute one they thought we’d take Brazil on in a slug fest - there was always just going to be one winner. It was naive in the extreme."
