football coach-competition
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| ▲ Jurgen Klinsmann (L), head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, speaks at a press conference at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on June 15, 2023. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Jurgen Klinsmann (R), head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, speaks with his assistants during a training session at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on June 15, 2023. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Players on the South Korean men's national football team huddle around their coaching staff before the start of a training session at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on June 15, 2023. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Players on the South Korean men's national football team take part in a training session at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on June 15, 2023. (Yonhap) |
football coach-competition
Klinsmann taking long view ahead of June friendlies
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, June 16 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean men's national football team will have their hands full this month with two friendly matches in a five-day span, but head coach Jurgen Klinsmann is taking a long view, having fastened his gaze on a continental tournament scheduled for January 2024.
South Korea will first host Peru, starting at 8 p.m. Friday in the southeastern city of Busan. Then on Tuesday in the central city of Daejeon, South Korea will take on El Salvador, also an 8 p.m. kickoff.
Klinsmann, however, isn't concerned only with these two matches. The German tactician has already fastened his gaze at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, a tournament that doesn't begin until January next year in Qatar.
At the start of training camp for the Peru match on Monday, Klinsmann said he wanted his players to show him, with their action, that they want to represent the country at the Asian Cup.
"We want to see that the players really express themselves and show their personality, and show 'I want to go to Qatar,'" Klinsmann said. "They can make mistakes, no problem. Obviously, we want to win the games too. I want them to show us coaches and media that they badly, badly, badly want to win the Asian Cup."
Since being named South Korea's head coach in February, Klinsmann, at every turn, has stressed that his immediate goal for the Taegeuk Warriors is to win the Asian Cup. South Korea's last title at the signature AFC tournament came in 1960 -- a drought so long as to be head-scratching, considering South Korea's stature as one of the powerhouses in Asian football.
Klinsmann has noted this week that he understands the national team squad between now and January can change, even dramatically so, because injuries are often part of the equation and some unexpected names may step up their game.
And Klinsmann already has a few new faces on hand this month, compared with the roster he had for his first two matches in late March.
For March, Klinsmann had inherited essentially the same team that had reached the round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup in December under his predecessor, Paulo Bento. With little time to scout South Korean players at home or abroad and most of the same players all healthy, Klinsmann could afford to keep the team mostly intact.
This time around, Klinsmann will be without his two trusted center backs, Kim Min-jae and Kim Young-gwon, due to mandatory military training and a leg injury, respectively. One veteran who was selected in part to address these absences, Kwon Kyung-won, was cut from the team Monday with an ankle injury.
That left the coach with a quartet of center backs with a combined 26 caps. Kim Min-jae and Kim Young-gwon have 151 caps between them.
Undeterred by the sudden drop in experience and acumen on the backline, Klinsmann said he wants those newbies, such as the first-time callup, Park Kyu-hyun of Dynamo Dresden, to make a hard push for the Asian Cup.
"We're seven months away from Qatar, and I want to see the players compete for Qatar," the coach said. "It's an opportunity for young players and experienced players coming in to show us coaches how much they want to be on this team."
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