2023-09-10 08:00:25
Colorless and odorless Klinsmann
‘Both the coach and the players are in total trouble!’
The head coach’s tactics make us wonder, ‘What on earth do they want to do?’, and the Taegeuk Warriors’ play, which only had one effective shot throughout 90 minutes, makes us wonder, ‘What are they playing for?’
Fans who watched the warm-up match between the Korean and Wales national soccer teams held at Cardiff City Stadium in Wales, England on the 8th (Korean time) were unable to break through the opponent’s defensive wall for the entire 90 minutes, so they spent time making lateral and back passes, wasted their time on counterattacks, and failed to make 10 shots ( I feel frustrated with Klinsmann’s performance, which resulted in a 0-0 draw (including 3 effective shots).
◇ Why was Klinsmann the director?
Since coach Jurgen Klinsmann, a former goal scorer who is considered a legend for the German national soccer team during his active years, took over as the head coach of the Korean national team in February, question marks regarding his ‘leadership’ have followed him.
After the failure to renew the contract with former coach Paulo Bento, domestic and foreign leaders were nominated for the next head coach.
However, in line with the public opinion that domestic head coaches cannot keep up with the global trend and the financial conditions of the Korea Football Association, which cannot invest a large budget, the baton was handed over to coach Klinsmann, who has an estimated annual salary of around 2 billion won.
Coach Klinsmann served as coach of the German national team from 2004 to 2006, and placed third in the 2006 World Cup held in his country.
From 2011 to 2016, he took charge of the U.S. national team, winning the North and Central America Gold Cup in 2013 and advancing to the round of 16 of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, gaining recognition for his abilities as a leader.
After a period of hiatus, he took over as manager of Hertha Berlin in the German Bundesliga in November 2019, but resigned following 10 weeks, and following remaining as a fielder once more, he was appointed to the Korean national team in February.
Before taking charge of the Korean national team, Coach Klinsmann served as a member of the Technical Study Group (TSG) of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and as a commentator for BBC and ESPN.
In fact, Coach Klinsmann, who had not left much of a mark since his performance in the round of 16 of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, set the short-term goal of winning the Asian Cup upon his appointment to the Korean national team and the semifinals of the 2026 North and Central American World Cup as his mid- to long-term goal, saying, “A 4-3 win is better than a 1-0 win.” “I prefer it,” he emphasized.
◇ 5th game without a win… The regret of colorless and odorless tactics
The results of the Klinsmann are increasingly dismal.
The national team, which finished 2 consecutive international matches in March with 1 draw and 1 loss (Colombia 2-2 draw, Uruguay 1-2 losses), also finished 2 June international matches with 1 draw and 1 loss (Peru 0-1 loss, El Salvador 1-1). In the first international match in September, they drew 0-0 with Wales, ending their 5th game without a win (3 draws and 2 losses).
Since the Korea Football Association introduced the full-time coach system for the national team A in 1992, Coach Klinsmann is the first coach who has not achieved a win in five games.
In the last five friendly matches, Coach Klinsmann actually used the 4-4-2 tactic as the basis.
The game starts with two top strikers, but with one target-type striker at the forefront and Son Heung-min (Tottenham) playing a ‘free role’ regardless of position, the left and right wing attackers dig into the center and provide attack resources to the opponent’s dangerous areas. Coach Klinsmann’s basic tactic is to stretch the ball and have the left and right fullbacks overlap deeply and attempt a cross.
This tactic was effective in his debut match once morest ‘Gangho’ Colombia.
Son Heung-min, who formed the top two, freely moved between the front line and central midfield and scored two goals, and Hwang In-beom (Zvezda) delivered the ball effectively in the midfield.
However, starting from the second warm-up match once morest Uruguay in March, Klinsmann struggled as the build-up process was not carried out properly due to the opponent’s strong forward pressure, and suffered his first loss with a score of 1-2.
In the June international match, Klinsmann failed to win as Kim Min-jae (Munich) of the defensive line received basic military training following the followingmath of Son Heung-min’s hernia surgery, and Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan) was out due to injury, failing to achieve normal strength.
The situation was different this time once morest Wales. In fact, all elite members from overseas and domestic factions showed up. In addition, Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), and Hong Hyun-seok (Gent) improved their sense of goal by scoring in their team’s previous game.
However, the anticipation turned into frustration right following kickoff.
The national team’s build-up was ineffective due to Wales’ strong pressure. There were a series of situations where the ball was stolen and counterattacked while only attempting side passes and back passes from the back.
Even players active on the European stage were helpless in one-on-one breakthroughs. Let alone build-up, even the players’ organic passes disappeared, and they ended up using backward long passes as the only way to break through.
The Taegeuk Warriors, who continued to ‘fail in vain’ for the entire 90 minutes, ended in a 5-game winless streak without any results, and Coach Klinsmann made the distant diagnosis that it was a generational change process for the Asian Cup.
Here, instead of promising to stay in the country, the coach made an excuse for mainly staying abroad, saying it was a ‘business trip concept’, and created unnecessary issues by himself, such as being criticized for ‘reluctant evaluation’ of foreign players rather than understanding domestic players.
◇ Is it all the director’s fault?… Taegeuk warriors whose spirit of challenge has faded
The manager is responsible for the outcome of the game. This is because it is entirely up to the coach to determine the best 11 and control the flow of the game through effective tactical changes and player substitutions when the game is not going well.
Looking at the Taegeuk Warriors who were in charge of the best 11 once morest Wales, it is difficult to dispute that they were actually the best choice in the current team.
Hwang In-beom, who had been unable to play for a long time due to a transfer dispute with his team, stepped up as ‘midfield commander’, but Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) was unable to join due to injury, so there was no replacement.
The national team basically has little time to work together. As a result, instead of boldly appointing new faces to the A-match, the head coaches form the best 11 with leading players.
During the 2002 World Cup, Hiddink’s legend of reaching the semifinals, where he had sufficient training time despite his team’s sacrifice, can no longer be achieved.
Ultimately, the commanders select the optimal best 11 and tactics within a short convocation period.
It is the players who implement the coach’s tactics on the field. The coach watches the players’ ability to implement tactics from the bench and determines the timing of tactical changes and substitutions.
The national team players failed to demonstrate the coach’s tactics on the field in this match once morest Wales.
Unable to find space in Wales’ thick midfield defense, they wasted time passing the ball around during the build-up process. This even raised the question, ‘What were the director’s tactics in the first place?’
If build-up is difficult, players must use individual tactics to exploit the opponent’s weaknesses and create space for teammates to penetrate. As always, it feels like the Taegeuk Warriors avoided adventure this time. It appears that he chose safety rather than criticism for failing to take on the challenge.
Responsibility for the results lies entirely with the head coach, but the players must also feel a corresponding sense of responsibility. This is because it is the national team players’ duty to add color and flavor to the head coach’s tactics.
◇ Saudi Arabia match on the 13th… Will it be a guillotine match?
The national team will play the last warm-up game of September once morest Saudi Arabia in Newcastle, England, on the 30th at 1:00 a.m. on the 13th. A friendly match once morest Tunisia is scheduled for October. The second qualifying round for the 2026 North, Central and American World Cup Asia will also continue in November.
If the result is only 3 draws and 2 losses in 5 games, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is ‘the dismissal of the head coach.’
Fans who cannot watch the training process have no choice but to focus on the results. If the results are good, criticism of ‘stubbornness’ is replaced with praise of ‘persistence’.
Coach Klinsmann as well as the Taegeuk Warriors should be prepared to leave the national team if they do not win this game once morest Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s FIFA ranking is 54th, much lower than Korea (28th).
Because of this, some even say that this match once morest Saudi Arabia is a ‘guillotine match.’ This is because domestic fans will no longer have the patience to support a national team coach who has not won in six games.
/Union
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