SAN JOSE (AP) ― Jorge Luis Pinto, who produced the surprise of the World Cup by coaching tiny Costa Rica to the quarterfinals, is leaving after failing to agree on a new contract. The Costa Rican federation announced Pinto’s departure on Thursday. Pinto said he was leaving because of disagreements with unnamed members of his coaching staff. He said they asked that he be fired 1 1/2 years ago. “I slept with the enemy for 1 1/2 years,” Pinto said. “I had my differences with the staff. They don’t s

South Korea is trying to schedule a football friendly against Paraguay this fall, an official from the sport’s national governing body said Thursday.“We’ve asked our Paraguayan counterparts for a friendly match on Oct. 10,” the official from the Korea Football Association said. “We’re currently waiting for their response.” South Korea earlier announced it will host Venezuela on Sept. 5 and Uruguay on Sept. 8.“European and African nations will play qualifying matches for the Euro 2016 and the 201

A Scottish newspaper reported that a former head coach of a pro football club there has emerged as a “strong candidate” to take over the South Korean men’s national team.The Scotsman said Neil Lennon, former head coach of Celtic FC in the Scottish Premier League, is “on a short list” to become the new bench boss for South Korea, which has been seeking a replacement for Hong Myung-bo, who resigned earlier this month following the country’s early exit from the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.According to

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) ― Brazil could appoint former coach Dunga to replace Luiz Felipe Scolari as national team boss, media reports indicated Saturday, despite ex-Corinthians coach Tite being considered the longtime favorite. The Brazilian Football Confederation earlier confirmed it will unveil its choice of Scolari’s successor on Tuesday at 11 a.m. in western Rio and a clutch of Brazilian newspapers said Dunga, 50, would return for a second spell.The front-runner, at least until Saturday, was be

South Korea's national football team is expected to take on Venezuela in its first A match since its early shutout in the Brazil FIFA World Cup, the country's governing body for the popular sport said Saturday.According to the Korea Football Association, the friendly versus the South American team will take place on Sept. 5. It likely will be the first one for Korea's new head coach, who has yet to be selected.There has been speculation that a candidate is being sought among K League coaches but

South Korea will play two football friendly matches in September in preparation for a major continental competition set for early next year, an official with the national football governing body said Friday, with Uruguay and Venezuela as potential opponents.“We’re preparing for two matches in September, and two more matches each in October and November,” an official at the Korea Football Agency said. “Our plan is to play six matches over the rest of this year in preparation for the Asian Cup (in

More than four in 10 South Koreans would rather have a foreign coach take over their men's national football team than a local figure, a poll showed Thursday.Gallup Korea said in its survey of 681 adults, 43 percent said they'd like to see a foreign national lead the football team, compared with 39 percent who said they wanted a South Korean at the helm.The job has been vacant since last Thursday, when former national team captain Hong Myung-bo resigned in the wake of the country's subpar perfor

A relatively unknown Danish football coach has emerged as an early, unlikely candidate for the vacant South Korean national team head coaching position, though the sport’s governing body remains lukewarm about his interest.The Danish sports paper Tipsbladet reported online on Tuesday that Michael Schjonberg, a 47-year-old assistant coach of the Norwegian club Valerenga, has been approached by South Korea about the top national team position.Hong Myung-bo resigned as the South Korean bench boss l

South Korea will not face its archrival Japan in a soccer friendly match this year, the national governing body of the sport said Wednesday, rejecting a series of recent media reports out of Tokyo.“The Japanese papers have been reporting that South Korea and Japan will play each other in a friendly this year,” an official at the Korea Football Association said Thursday. “But we have absolutely no plans to face Japan this year.” This was the second time this month that the KFA has had to refute J

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ― Brazil got 9.25 out of 10 from FIFA President Sepp Blatter for organizing a World Cup that was “very special” because of high quality football.Giving his tournament report on Monday, Blatter also criticized FIFA for not better tackling incidents of fan discrimination in stadiums. Blatter said he spoke with Russia President Vladimir Putin at Sunday’s final about making the issue a priority at the 2018 World Cup there.That tournament will be the third straight involving a hug

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil in the books and the summer transfer window fully open in European club football, some South Korean players are being rumored to be on the move.Ki Sung-yueng, under contract with Swansea City in English Premier League, is being linked to Aston Villa. Mirror reported that Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert wants “an experienced holding midfielder” and hopes to acquire Ki from Swansea City, where he has one year left on his contract.Daily Mail also said Villa h

RIO DE JANEIRO ― With the recent resignation of coach Hong Myung-bo and the exit of Luis Scolari after the utter destruction of his squad in the World Cup’s final stages, it’s been a dramatic few days both in Korea and Brazil as their football associations scramble for answers on how to fix it all.Humiliating defeats ― Korea to Algeria 4-2 in the group round and Brazil to Germany 7-1 in the semifinals ― exposed their squads’ weaknesses as overly dependent on star players with vulnerable defenses