Jürgen Klinsmann feels it’s not enough to travel to Europe to watch the Taegeuk Warriors in person.
Klinsmann’s men’s soccer team will open their October evaluation against Tunisia at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sept. 13. They will then move to Suwon World Cup Stadium on the 17th for the second match against Vietnam.
The team convened at Paju NFC on Sept. 9 for their first training session. Ahead of the training session, Klinsmann held a press conference with the media and addressed the recent controversy surrounding him.
Following the controversy over his overseas residency, Klinsmann changed his schedule to go to Munich to visit Kim Min-jae after the two-game European tour in September and returned home with the players on the 14th. At Incheon Airport, he joked with reporters, “You guys called me.” Klinsmann was well aware of the criticism surrounding him at home, as he was briefed by federation officials at a press briefing.
But he was undeterred, flying back to the United States just five days later. Afterward, he appeared on an ESPN panel, and the ‘two job controversy’ also arose. The manager, who is supposed to take care of the K League players first, talked about Harry Kane and Lionel Messi first. Fans are furious.
Klinsmann said, “Football is a pleasure for me. It’s not a job for me to broadcast. It’s a process of getting to know world soccer. Of course, I get paid by broadcasters, but I don’t know how much,” he explained.
Among K League players, there are rumors that “Klinsmann doesn’t care about the K League”. In fact, a former K League player said, “Coach Chaduri told me, ‘You guys shouldn’t worry about (the criticism), just train hard.'”
It’s true that the association should take a closer look at the highly skilled overseas players. However, there are also concerns that the K League, the foundation of Korean soccer, is being downplayed. In response, Klinsmann said, “I think the role of the national team is a little different. Of course, if I were a K League coach, I would have stayed in Korea. But as a national team coach, you have to know what’s going on in Europe. When you’re not playing in Korea, you have to watch the Champions League and you have to go to Europe.”
“Let’s have a KFA office in Europe,” Klinsmann suggested. “The KFA should open an office in London or Europe. My job is to lead Korea to win the Asian Cup. So I need to watch more world games.”
Currently, 13 of the 24 members of the national soccer team are overseas. However, Korean players are not underrepresented at 11, or 45.8%. Especially the defense and goalkeepers. “Coach Cha watches a lot of K-League,” Klinsmann said, adding that he has delegated the task to Cha. It is doubtful that Klinsmann, who has only been briefed on K League players, will be able to identify the best players with his own eyes.
Among the 13 overseas players, Hwang Eui-jo (Norwich City), Son Heung-min (Tottenham), and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) play in England, while the German Bundesliga is represented by Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart), and Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich).
Lee Kang-in (PSG) is from France, Hwang In-beom (Tsrvena) is from Serbia, Oh Hyun-gyu (Celtic) is from Scotland, Cho Kyu-sung (Mittwilan) is from Denmark, and Hong Hyun-seok (Gent) is from Belgium. There are also Middle Easterners like Kim Seung-kyu (Al Shabab). Even if there is an office of the Football Association in London or Munich, it would be impossible to take care of all the various overseas factions.
Of course, the net function of overseas offices is not small. They can get to know the players on the ground faster and get better cooperation from the clubs. However, there is also a risk that the national team staff will focus on the overseas team and the domestic team will be relatively marginalized. Even if you are an overseas player, you may not be as good as a domestic player if you can’t play due to competition within the team. This is because players who are in good form in the K League are just as competitive as overseas players and should be given a fair chance.카지노
An official from the Korea Football Association said, “Japan has an office in Munich. We know the reality of how Japan operates. There are 17 Japanese players playing in Germany up to the second division. They have a dedicated physical trainer in the federation office, which acts as a love room where players come to get massages after games.”
Another official said, “If the office is understaffed, it can become a mere formality to welcome officials to Europe. Even if the national team staff is on site, it’s hard to know everything about the team.”