Not only me but all of the coaches have learned a lot over the past 6 to 7 months. “Now I have a lot of understanding and have grasped many aspects at the same time,”
said coach Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany), who was called up to the national team for the fourth time, at a media conference held at the Paju National Team Training Center (NFC) on the morning of the 9th. Coach Klinsmann, who took office at the end of February, said that he has been gradually improving while leading the Korean national team and that he will challenge to win the Asian Cup through this.
In his first warm-up game, he continued the process of his predecessor, coach Paulo Bento (Portugal), and is gradually showing his colors. However, Coach Klinsmann has only won 1 game (3 draws, 2 losses) in 6 games since his appointment, and is receiving a lot of criticism as a result. Moreover, unlike his promise to ‘reside in Korea’, he is actively carrying out external activities by traveling between the United States and Europe.
Amid this criticism, Director Klinsmann remained positive. Coach Klinsmann said, “We retained members so that the players who performed well at the Qatar World Cup could receive praise in front of the public and perform well. I think the matches against Colombia and Uruguay were good from a soccer perspective. He gave a good evaluation, saying, “It’s disappointing that we didn’t win, and I was angry, but I showed a good performance.”무지개토토
He continued, “We tried to test new players in June, but there were difficulties. June is a difficult international match period for any country. In countries with many overseas players, there is a break after the European season, so players are very tired. At that time, Son Heung-min was in the aftermath of hernia surgery, and Kim Min-jae was undergoing basic military training. “Still, he learned quite a lot.”
Coach Klinsmann, who experienced trial and error in the warm-up matches in March and June, said that changes occurred in the friendly matches against Wales and Saudi Arabia held in England last September. Coach Klinsmann said, “There were a lot of set pieces conceded in the warm-up games in March and June. What we focused on while preparing for the September international match was set-piece defense. There were no set pieces conceded in the games against Wales and Saudi Arabia. He learned a lot and talked to the players. “He showed signs of improvement.”
He was confident that there would be something to learn from this evaluation match. Coach Klinsmann said, “If you look at the period of every international match, we play against teams from other continents. It would be nice to meet a strong team every time, but because the preliminaries for each continent overlap, it is not always possible to meet the opponent you want. “When I encounter soccer from other countries, I learn how to deal with it.”
He continued, “Tunisia is a very strong team. They defeated Egypt and Japan, and defeated France in the World Cup. This is not to say Tunisia is a strong team, but it is the result of Tunisia. “It is important how we prepare our players for the Asian Cup, and we need to take advantage of the last warm-up match,” he said, focusing on the opponent.
Coach Klinsmann said that the most important thing right now is ‘faith.’ He said that if everyone has faith in the national team, it can lead to good results in the Asian Cup. Coach Klinsmann said, “While working in the Technical Research Group (TSG) with coach Cha Du-ri at the World Cup, I confirmed that the Korean national team has the ability and qualifications to win the Asian Cup. “I expect that as we go through trial and error and make up for what we lack, our desire to win will grow as the opening of the Asian Cup in January approaches.”
Lastly, “I believe we can win. This applies not only to the players but also to the media personnel in front of them. When trust grows, the team can gain strength and perform better. The most important thing is faith. “If we keep that kind of atmosphere, I think we will do well in the Asian Cup,” he said, asking for support for the national team.