National team coach Jürgen Klinsmann is expected to address the ‘controversy’ surrounding him on Thursday afternoon when the team returns home from its European tour.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said on the 13th, “The A team will return home through Incheon Airport on the 14th. “Coach Klinsmann was initially scheduled to watch the Bundesliga Bayern Munich game this week, visit European clubs, meet with officials, and analyze with the European coaching staff before returning home for the October A match. However, at today’s coaching staff meeting, we changed the schedule to start identifying K League players before the October roster announcement.”
It was a sudden change of schedule. Initially, Klinsmann was scheduled to travel to Germany to watch the Munich game after completing the September A-match schedule in England. The idea was to meet with Kim Min-jae, but the reaction in Korea was mixed. One of the best center backs in the world is not going to be left out of the squad, and the national team has already checked his physical condition recently.
The controversy over his working from home and traveling abroad only added to the criticism. Klinsmann, who took over the reins of the national team in March, has spent only 67 days in South Korea in six months. His frequent trips back and forth to the U.S., where he lives, and his frequent business trips to Europe gave him an image of inconsistency. Poor performance also played a role. Klinsmann had gone five games without a win (three draws and two losses) before a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia on Nov. 13, earning him the label of the longest winless manager in South Korean soccer history.
It’s only been six months since his appointment, but the chants of ‘Klinsmann out’ have increased. First and foremost, the poor performance and lack of soccer colors were the biggest problems. He was also criticized for not watching the K League himself. Whenever Klinsmann is asked about the controversy surrounding him, he says it’s a matter of “differences in working methods. The nuance was that he was doing his job and that his way of doing things should be respected. He also said that he didn’t understand Korean sentiment and didn’t want to know.먹튀검증
It will be interesting to see if Klinsmann, who suddenly decided to step on Korean soil, will once again make excuses for the controversy surrounding him, or if he will acknowledge it and change the way he works. It will be interesting to see what Klinsmann has to say at the press conference on the 14th.