Will there be a farce in which the director is fired after just six months? This is not a story about anxious Korean soccer fans. This is how an overseas soccer expert views the Korean national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann.
John Duerden, who is in charge of Asian soccer at the BBC, said on the 7th (Korean time), “Wales coach Rob Page will not be the only one who needs a win on the 8th,” and added, “Korean coach Klinsmann has only had poor results six months after taking office. “We are under pressure due to uneven team management,” he said.
The Korean national soccer team, led by Coach Klinsmann, will play a friendly match against Wales at Cardiff City Stadium in Wales at 3:45 a.m. (Korean time) on the 8th. However, the atmosphere is not good. Criticism toward Director Klinsmann is growing.
Coach Klinsmann (center) is with the players in training in preparation for the match against Wales. /Photo=Korea Football Association
Criticism from foreign journalist Duerden, Klinsmann’s unusual ‘remote work’
Duerden said, “We have recorded 2 draws and 2 losses in the four games played at home so far, which is not ideal preparation for Korea as they aim to regain their first Asian Cup title since 1960.”
This is even more touching because it is a comment from a foreign reporter who knows Korea better than anyone else. Duerden is a rare overseas journalist who has covered Asian soccer professionally while working for ESPN, The Guardian, and Goal.com. He is well known to domestic soccer fans as he has been publishing columns serially through domestic portal sites for over a decade.
After the 2022 Qatar World Cup at the end of last year, the Korea Football Association appointed Klinsmann as the head coach to lead the national team for the next four years. He is struggling with no wins (2 draws, 2 losses) in the 4 games he has played since. There were no Asian teams and they were all South American teams. They drew against Colombia (2-2) and El Salvador (1-1), and lost to Uruguay (1-2) and Peru (0-1).
Less than six months have passed since I took the reins last March. Although it is still too early to evaluate the results, criticisms of Klinsmann’s leadership are already being raised. Although he only played domestically, he did not win a single game, and there are doubts about his tactical color. In addition, styles that are difficult to understand also increase criticism.
Duerden pointed out Klinsmann’s remote work, as has been criticized domestically. He pointed out, “Klinsmann announced in his first press conference that he would stay in Korea like his predecessors,” and added, “However, according to Korean media, he stayed in Korea for only six days in the six months since he took office.”
In response, Coach Klinsmann said, “For people who are used to working differently, (remote work) may be new. I don’t criticize anyone when someone asks where they are.” “We also need to contact the coaches of Korean players,” he explained.
There are various concerns, but this raises concerns that it will inevitably be difficult to properly identify players active in the K-League. With Klinsmann Hoey leaving Korea, his assistants are watching the players play instead. Duerden reminded that coach Paulo Bento, who sent Korea to the round of 16 for the first time in 13 years at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, also lives in Korea and frequently visited K-League stadiums.메이저놀이터
National team players training ahead of the game against Wales. /Photo=Korea Football Association
If the results are good… a fateful European expedition? If the results are not good, the possibility of dismissal is raised.
It cannot be said that not staying in the country is necessarily wrong. However, as a journalist who knows Korea well, Duerden understood well why Klinsmann was being criticized. He said, “When pressure is applied, smaller issues can become more prominent.” “Despite these growing concerns, Klinsmann decided to remotely announce the list of players for the away evaluation match.”
We also introduced the Korean media’s criticism of this decision. “If results against Wales and Saudi Arabia don’t improve, Klinsmann could find himself spending as much time as he wants in California,” Duerden said. It is an indirect expression of the possibility of dismissal.
The most ideal scenario is for Klinsmann to bring positive performance and results at the same time during this trip. Korea’s short-term goal is to win the Asian Cup to be held in Qatar in January next year. If we are only looking at the World Cup three years from now, an early replacement of coach may be helpful, but if we consider the Asian Cup, which is a long-awaited project of Korean soccer, it is more reasonable to hope that the Klinsmann system will stabilize for now. In the end, the time has come when it is more important than ever to show Coach Klinsmann’s ability through results.
Korea is ranked 28th in the FIFA rankings, seven places above Wales (35th). This is a team we have never faced before.
This match against Wales and Saudi Arabia (54th in FIFA rankings), which will be held at 1:30 am on the 13th, will be broadcast live on TV Chosun and Coupang Play.