Asian teams hiring, firing as WC nears

SEOUL, South Korea – Japan's surprise sacking of head coach Vahid Halilhodzic on Monday marked a fifth coaching change from Asia's five participants at the 2018 World Cup in the past nine months.

Only Iran, with Carlos Queiroz in place since 2011, has the same manager now as in June last year. Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia all will have new coaches who will see their teams in competitive action for the first time when the World Cup kicks off in June. South Korea's coach Shin Tae-yong was appointed in July 2017 and has two World Cup qualifiers under his belt.

For a continent desperate to improve on the 2014 World Cup when its four teams failed to record a single win, it is not ideal preparation. Just three wins from nine games since successfully securing qualification with a game to spare last August put Halilhodzic under pressure. This only increased after claims of a breakdown in trust and communication with players that followed friendly games against Mali and Ukraine in March.

Afshin Ghotbi, a former coach in Japan's J.League with Shimizu S-Pulse, has extensive experience in Asia including with the national teams of Iran and South Korea.

"There are many different reasons in Asia but it often comes down to the differences between expectations and reality that can be seen in the form of a team during friendlies and this can lead to panic," Ghotbi told Associated Press.