The South Korea men’s national soccer team, led by head coach Jürgen Klinsmann (GER), will travel to Wales and Saudi Arabia (below) for a pair of A matches in September. Klinsmann’s men will face Wales (ranked 35th in the FIFA rankings) on Sept. 8 at Cardiff City Stadium in Wales, England, and Saudi Arabia (ranked 54th) on Sept. 13 at St. James’ Park in Newcastle.
These will be the first away matches since Klinsmann’s arrival. Chaduri and the domestic coaching staff left for England on April 4. Klinsmann and the international players will join them locally.
The atmosphere surrounding Klinsmann has been quite turbulent lately. Since his appointment in February this year, Klinsmann has yet to win a game in four home A matches, drawing two and losing two (scoring four and conceding six).
In March, South Korea drew 2-2 with Colombia and lost 1-2 to Uruguay, while in June they lost 0-1 to Peru and drew 1-1 with El Salvador. This is the slowest first win for a foreign coach in history. It also compares favorably to rival Japan, who faced the same opponents in the same period, winning two, drawing one and losing one, scoring 12 goals and conceding four.
Controversy over team management continues… the results speak for themselves
Outside of the game, Klinsmann’s personal behavior and management of the national team has also been the subject of some controversy. Klinsmann promised to stay in Korea after being appointed as the national team coach, but he spent much more time abroad, causing controversy over his ‘telecommuting’ and ‘krigger shenanigans’.
In addition, he was criticized for “neglecting his duties” by focusing more on external activities such as appearing on broadcasting panels and attending events unrelated to his work as head coach of the Korean national team. There was also noise surrounding the coaching staff reshuffle, including the sudden resignation of coach Michael Kim and the promotion of advisor coach Cha Doo-ri.
The September A match roster was also met with mixed reactions when it was announced. One of the key players, Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), was ruled out of the trip to England after pulling a thigh muscle while playing for his club. In addition, Hwang Eui-jo (Norwich City), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), Cho Kyu-sung (Midtjylland), and Oh Hyun-gyu (Celtic) have all been called up with question marks over their fitness, either due to lack of playing time or injury news from their clubs. The reaction was even worse when Klinsmann skipped the press conference that has become a tradition whenever a new roster is announced. 온라인카지노
It’s only been six months, but there are already concerns about whether Klinsmann will make it to the 2026 North and Central American World Cup. Klinsmann will need to turn the tide of negative public opinion against him with a convincing performance and a first win in the two A-match series this September.
The problem is, it’s away from home, and Wales and Saudi Arabia aren’t exactly easy opponents. Since its inception, the Klinsmann’s have played only at home, where they have had favorable conditions, and their opponents have all been Latin American teams. It will be the first time in three years since 2020 (Mexico, Qatar) that the South Korean national soccer team will play away from home in Europe.