Former Korean coach Jurgen Klinsmann mentioned his time as Korean coach in an interview.
He said that the reason he was sacked was because he was responsible for the discord in the players, leaving a response that he did not understand Korean culture.
Britain’s ‘The Athletic’ published Alan Shearer’s exclusive interview with Klinsmann on the 7th (Korean time).
Ahead of Euro 2024 and Copa America to be held this summer, Klinsmann, who has German and American nationality, expressed his views.
This included a story about his time as head coach of the Korean national team.
After the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup, a shocking discord among the players became known.
Britain’s ‘The Sun’ reported, “Before the match against Jordan, in which Korea was eliminated from the Asian Cup, Son Heung-min got into a fight with his teammates and suffered a dislocated finger.
The young players finished dinner quickly so they could play table tennis.
However, Son Heung-min did not like leaving the meal, which was an opportunity for team bonding,” the report said.
He continued, “Lee Kang-in was among the players Son Heung-min took issue with.
“Afterwards, voices became louder, and Son Heung-min’s finger was dislocated in the process,” he added.
The Korea Football Association quickly acknowledged it to be true, and as the controversy intensified, Lee Kang-in left an apology on his SNS and went to England to personally apologize to Son Heung-min and his colleagues, completing the reconciliation.
Klinsmann recalled that time.
“We thought Korea could win,” he said.
The night before the Jordan game, we were having dinner as usual and some of the young players woke up a little earlier.
They moved to the next room to play table tennis.
Then, when it became a bit noisy, Son Heung-min walked there, and suddenly an argument broke out between Lee Kang-in and a physical fight broke out.
At that point, I told the coaches, ‘This is over. “I knew I couldn’t fight a strong team in the Asian Cup semifinals right now,” he said, directly referring to the feud between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in.
At the same time, he pinpointed the reason for the loss in the Jordan match as the fight between the two men.
He said, “I didn’t expect it at all. In fact, we were very positive. We fought fiercely and won with dramatic moments and penalty shootouts, so we thought it would go well.
What was truly sad was that in that moment, the team and individual players lost the greatest opportunity of their careers.
“Without that fight, we would have beaten Jordan and faced Qatar in the final.”
Klinsmann resigned from his position as coach due to poor performance and team management problems.
He thought that the reason he was sacked was because of the fight between the two players.
Klinsmann said, “In Korean culture, someone has to take responsibility and be blamed.
“They put our coaches in charge of the fight,” he said.
The reason Klinsmann stepped down was not simply because of his performance in the competition.
Immediately after his appointment, Klinsmann did not clearly resolve fans’ questions, spawning countless controversies such as controversy over working from home, controversy over player selection, controversy over ‘influencer’ activities, and controversy over no tactics.
Even during the Asian Cup, there were repeated wins due to poor performance, but coach Klinsmann repeatedly asked any questions to be evaluated after the results were released.
Afterwards, as Korea failed to win the championship, after going through a power enhancement committee and executive meeting at the Korea Football Association (KFA), Coach Klinsmann resigned from his position as national team coach just one year after taking office.
Klinsmann was still unable to accept the controversy surrounding him.
He said, “People said I didn’t adapt well to life in Korea.
I tried to adapt, but if you want me to 100% adapt to everything, why hire a foreigner in the first place?
If you wanted it the Korean way, it would have been much easier to hire a Korean director.
I traveled frequently between Korea and Europe because 70% of the players were in Europe.
“I am probably the only foreign coach in Korea who has been to college games, second-tier games and youth games,” he declared.
At the time of the competition, he also mentioned the ‘laughter’ controversy.
Klinsmann smiled all the time even when Korea suffered a shocking draw or defeat, and was criticized for not being able to ‘read the mood.’
Even in Europe, people reacted with suspicion to Klinsmann’s smile.
However, he said, “As a Korean coach, if you lose a game, you should not congratulate your opponent and smile.
They don’t do that. You may shake hands, but you must do so very seriously.
The people I met on the street were very different.
They keep a certain distance, but are very polite and friendly.
However, after advancing to the semifinals, Koreans hugged me and said, ‘Thank you, coach. “It was the most exciting competition in decades,” he said.
by 토토사이트
