International Football
NORTH KOREA BOYCOTTS WOMEN’S OLYMPIC FOOTBALL SOUTH KOREA
BY DUNCAN MACKAY
North Korea are set to announce they will not compete in the third round of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in South Korea in February – ending their chances of reaching Tokyo 2020.
The tournament, featuring two groups of four, is due to take place on Jeju Island between February 3 and 9.
The top two teams in each group are then scheduled to play each other in a two-legged home-and-away playoff on March 6 and 11, with the winners qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games.
But, according to South Korean agency Yonhap News , North Korea has already notified the AFC that they not will be taking part.
They did not give a reason, Yonhap News reported, but relations between the two countries have deteriorated since the Hanoi Summit in February between North Korean chairman Kim Jong-un and United States President Donald Trump ended without a deal on denuclearisation.
It is not expected that North Korea will be replaced in the tournament.
North Korea were due to face South Korea in Group A, which also includes Vietnam and Myanmar.
North Korea, who played at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games in Beijing and London, were the top-ranked team in Group A with a world ranking of 11.
South Korea have never qualified for an Olympic women’s football tournament and have only beaten their rivals from the North once in 19 meetings.
Four other teams in the third round – Australia, China, Thailand and Chinese Taipei – were drawn into Group B and are scheduled to play their matches in Wuhan in China from February 3 to 9.
North Korea also declined to participate in the women’s tournament East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship earlier this month in Busan.
North Korea had won the three previous EAFF titles but pulled out months before the opening kick-off.
It is less than two years since the two Koreas marched together in the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang and took part in a joint women’s ice hockey team – events that heralded hopes of a new reconciliation between the North and South.
Trump’s attempts at diplomacy with Kim, which he has made a centerpiece of his foreign policy efforts, have failed to make much progress after positive early signs following Pyeongchang 2018.
Trump became the first US President to meet with his North Korean counterpart at a summit in Singapore in 2018.
Trump said at the time that the pair had “developed a very special bond” and described Kim as “a very talented man”.
The Hanoi Summit was followed by another historic meeting in June, when Trump took an unprecedented step into North Korea.
Recently, however, relations have shown signs of returning to their pre-Pyeongchang 2018 state and Kim has threatened to lift a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests and resume launches over Japan in the build up to Tokyo 2020.
The two Koreas remain technically at war, because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Earlier this month, hopes for a joint North-South Korean FIFA Women’s World Cup ended after South Korea withdrew its bid for the 2023 event just hours before the deadline.
The Korea Football Association claimed strained inter-Korean relations meant a unified bid was not possible.
–insidethegames
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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