The coach just stands by and the players fight internally The sinking ship ‘Klinsmann’

South Korea's Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in were defeated 0-2 in the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup semi-final match between Jordan and Korea held at Al Rayyan Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar on the 6th (local time), preventing them from advancing to the finals.

Klinsmann, who was said to be the best member of all time and attempted to win the Asian Cup for the first time in 64 years, ended the tournament poorly with the worst performance. As a result, it was superficial. The head coach stood by and the players suffered internal strife, making it far from being a 'one team'. Since it was already a sinking ship, the Asian Cup's slump was a natural result.

Korea, led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann, was unable to advance to the finals of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, which ended on the 10th. After struggling, they reached the semifinals, but were eliminated in the semifinals against Jordan after the humiliation of not being able to record a single effective shot.

There is strong criticism of Coach Klinsmann's leadership, which had no tactics in response to the failure of the Asian Cup.

Unlike former coach Paulo Bento, who painstakingly applied forward pressure and build-up soccer, coach Klinsmann has not shown any notable style since taking office in February of last year. He advocated attacking soccer, but only relied on individual players such as Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), and even sarcastically called '(Heung-min, Kang-in) please play soccer' at home and abroad.

Even though they had a world-class defender named Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), their defensive organization completely collapsed, allowing 10 goals in 6 games. Coach Klinsmann, who said, “I will take responsibility for the results,” just laughed in vain, but in the end, the responsibility of the national team’s head coach is being raised. The Football Association is expected to decide on Coach Klinsmann's future at the Power Strengthening Committee meeting on the 15th.

In addition, it was later revealed that infighting between players occurred in difficult circumstances even during one of the tournament periods.

On the 14th, British newspapers such as 'The Sun' revealed that national team captain Son Heung-min suffered a fractured finger during an argument with young players, including Lee Kang-in, ahead of the semifinal match against Jordan. The Korea Football Association (KFA) also acknowledged that it was true that there were differences of opinion among players and that fights broke out during the tournament.

It was revealed that the captain scolded some players who were playing table tennis ahead of the semifinal against Jordan, and in the process, some of the players got into an argument and friction.

A KFA official said, “It is true that there was a fight between some players during the tournament,” adding, “There was friction in the table tennis court. It wasn't a physical (fist fight) level conflict. “Son Heung-min suffered a finger injury in the process of shaking off (the player).”

This cannot be seen as simply a problem for the players. This is proof that the team's discipline has become lax. Some seniors reported a series of processes to the staff, including Director Klinsmann, but it was revealed that the head coach, who should have managed and controlled this, actually stood by. And as everyone saw, it turned out to be the worst performance against Jordan.

Even in this situation, Coach Klinsmann made an absurd self-evaluation at the press conference upon arrival on the 8th, saying, “We learned a lot and developed a lot through the Asian Cup.”

Although it was a difficult victory to achieve even if everyone worked hard and worked together as one, Klinsmann suffered disharmony both inside and outside. It was a competition with an obvious outcome. 고스톱