[파주=스포츠한국 김성수 기자] How will coach Jurgen Klinsmann (58, Germany) taking the helm of the Korean national soccer team affect Son Heung-min (30, Tottenham Hotspur)? Numerous links between the two now are sending positive signals.
On the followingnoon of the 20th, the Korean national soccer team was officially convened at the NFC in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, and started training for the first time. On the second day, the 21st, training started at 10:30 am.
Coach Klinsmann, a legend in German soccer, was appointed as the coach of the Korean national soccer team in February and will begin his first job with this convocation. The national soccer team will have an A-match evaluation match once morest Colombia in Ulsan on the 24th and Uruguay in Seoul on the 28th.
Son Heung-min entered Korea on the followingnoon of the 20th and joined the national team. He met with reporters before the start of training on the 21st and said, “I am happy that this is the first call following the Qatar World Cup. He even talked regarding giving me freedom. We’re still talking regarding tactics, but we’re thinking of having a conversation while training.” And before the 21st day passed, it was Son Heung-min who was selected as the captain of Klins Man-ho and trusted by the director.
Son Heung-min and Klinsman have a pretty big intersection. The first of these is that they are people who deserve the title of ‘World Class Striker’.
As a player, Klinsmann was truly a ‘legend striker’. Starting with the top scorer in the German Bundesliga in the 1987-1988 season in Stuttgart, he won the UEFA (European Football Confederation) Cup and Bundesliga championship at Inter Milan in Italy and Bayern Munich in Germany. Klinsmann also served as an immovable main striker for more than 10 years in West Germany and the German national team, leading them to victory in the 1990 World Cup in Italy and Euro 1996. Klinsmann, who scored two goals once morest the Korean national team in the 1994 World Cup USA, showed a strong performance on the big stage by scoring 11 goals in the World Cup alone.
Only Son Heung-min, who became Asia’s first EPL top scorer with 23 goals in 35 matches in the English Premier League (EPL) last season, and Klins, the ‘legendary striker’, will have a priestly relationship in the Korean national soccer team. This season, Son Heung-min is showing a disappointing appearance with 6 goals in 26 league games, but the existence of Klinsman, a former ‘Wolcle Striker’, may be the key to escaping the sluggish situation. You can get advice as a striker from Klinsman that you mightn’t get from midfielder Paulo Bento, former Korean national team coach, and Tottenham coach Antonio Conte.
The possibility that only Klins will give Son Heung-min intensive advice is another link. It’s ‘Tottenham’. Klinsmann played for Son Heung-min’s current team, Tottenham, from the middle to the end of the 1994-1995 season and the 1997-1998 season. He won the Tottenham Player of the Year in 1994 and saved Tottenham from relegation in the 1997-1998 season, giving a huge impact in a short period of time and rising to the ranks of club legends.
Son Heung-min announced that Klinsman’s status in Tottenham is still the same, saying, “There are people who have seen the coach’s playing days and lived together in the Tottenham club. In a situation where a junior from the club who still thinks well of himself has become a disciple, he is only a cleansman who can have the psychology of wanting to take care of Son Heung-min even a little more.
At a press conference held on the 9th following taking over as head coach of the national team, Klinsman declared that he would play ‘multi-scoring attack football’, saying, “I prefer a 4-3 victory rather than a 1-0 victory.” Son Heung-min, who participated in midfield pass play in the national team during Tottenham and Bento this season, may create a situation where he will be more faithful to his original role as an attacker, including penetrating space.
Will Son Heung-min be the ‘biggest beneficiary’ of Klins Manho? We may be able to get a glimpse of that possibility in the upcoming March A match once morest Colombia-Uruguay.
