South Korea coach Pim Verbeek would not be drawn on questions about his future as he praised the performance of his players after their penalty shootout defeat to Iraq in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.
The Koreans went down 4-3 on penalties to the Middle Eastern side on Wednesday after their second goalless draw at Bukit Jalil National Stadium in four days, ending their hopes of a first Asian Cup title in 47 years.
But despite his young side's progress in the competition, Verbeek still had to field questions about whether he intended to stay on in his position after a series of sub-par performances that produced only three goals in five games.
"I took my decision already but I am not going to say what it is because I want to keep the Korean people excited for the next couple of days," said the Dutchman of his future plans.
"But if the Korean fans think we didn't play a good tournament than they must have a different vision of playing international football.
"I think a lot of countries would be very proud to reach the semi-finals and to see their team fight until the very last second of extra-time to get to the final.
"I should be proud to be a fan of Korean football because while we did not always play good, we were not outplayed in any game throughout this tournament and we were fighting like hell to get a good result.
"If people think that is not enough that's okay because I have no problem with that."
Due to injuries to a number of key players, Verbeek brought a squad to the Asian Cup made up largely of young players.
He admitted that they still have a long way to go in their development.
"You cannot say that they didn't work hard and that they didn't try everything to go to the final," he said.
"But this time, we were probably not good enough.
"If you look at our Asian Cup team, there are many young players and they still have a lot to learn because I think that we didn't create enough chances.
"But today was also our fifth game in two weeks and it was a difficult pitch so it was not easy to play football or to keep our strength and our power."
Verbeek's mission will now be to pick his side up for the third place play-off in Palembang on Saturday night.
"We all have to recover from this disappointment - the players and the officials - and we will have to look at how fit our players are for the third place match," he added.
"But we will never give up and we will go out to win the game.
"I don't promise that we will play well but we will never give up."
But despite his young side's progress in the competition, Verbeek still had to field questions about whether he intended to stay on in his position after a series of sub-par performances that produced only three goals in five games.
"I took my decision already but I am not going to say what it is because I want to keep the Korean people excited for the next couple of days," said the Dutchman of his future plans.
"But if the Korean fans think we didn't play a good tournament than they must have a different vision of playing international football.
"I think a lot of countries would be very proud to reach the semi-finals and to see their team fight until the very last second of extra-time to get to the final.
"I should be proud to be a fan of Korean football because while we did not always play good, we were not outplayed in any game throughout this tournament and we were fighting like hell to get a good result.
"If people think that is not enough that's okay because I have no problem with that."
Due to injuries to a number of key players, Verbeek brought a squad to the Asian Cup made up largely of young players.
He admitted that they still have a long way to go in their development.
"You cannot say that they didn't work hard and that they didn't try everything to go to the final," he said.
"But this time, we were probably not good enough.
"If you look at our Asian Cup team, there are many young players and they still have a lot to learn because I think that we didn't create enough chances.
"But today was also our fifth game in two weeks and it was a difficult pitch so it was not easy to play football or to keep our strength and our power."
Verbeek's mission will now be to pick his side up for the third place play-off in Palembang on Saturday night.
"We all have to recover from this disappointment - the players and the officials - and we will have to look at how fit our players are for the third place match," he added.
"But we will never give up and we will go out to win the game.
"I don't promise that we will play well but we will never give up."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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