After a bumpy start this year and a lot of skepticism, South Korea’s national coach Jürgen Klinsmann sees his team on the right track before the start of the Asian Championship.
When presenting his 26-man squad for the Asian Cup in Qatar on Thursday in Seoul, the former national coach confirmed that South Korea wanted to win the continental tournament for the first time in 64 years. He could see in his players’ eyes that they were hungry.
“The team accepted our ideas”
The 58-year-old Klinsmann said at a press conference that his team had found its rhythm throughout the year and was clearly trying to persuade his team: “It was a difficult start, and then step by step the team adopted our ideas and increased the pace.” Klinsmann has been the coach of the 2002 World Cup fourth-place team since the beginning of the year.
After a long wait, Klinsmann won his first game as coach of the South Koreans in August with a 1-0 win against Saudi Arabia. In the end they won “Taegeuk Warriors” five times in a row – including twice in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Japan is favorite, Klinsmann also names Australia
For the tournament in Qatar from January 12th to February 10th, Japan is the biggest favorite, said Klinsmann. But his own team is so well-staffed that it can win the trophy in the end. The former German international also counted Australia, Iran and Uzbekistan among his strongest competitors. In Group E, South Korea will initially face Jordan, Bahrain and Malaysia.
The squad also includes Bundesliga legionnaires Kim Min-jae from FC Bayern Munich, Lee Jae-sung (FSV Mainz 05) and Jeong Woo-yeong (VfB Stuttgart). Kim is one of the world’s best central defenders, said Klinsmann: “Min-jae has matured into the team’s absolute leader.” South Korea will be captained by Tottenham star Son Heung-min. “We have a lot of different pieces in the list, which makes us one of the favorites for the Asian Cup”said Klinsmann.
Kim and Son are the top stars
The two aces Kim and Son are definitely coming to the national team with the wind at their backs. Kim won the Italian championship with Napoli last summer and was just named Footballer of the Year in South Korea. He immediately earned a regular place at Bayern. He is still far from flawless and has the aura from his Napoli days, but overall he plays a stable first half of the season and is largely responsible for the low number of goals conceded (15, second best defense behind Leverkusen) for the record champions.
Son is making a big impression at Tottenham Hotspur even after Harry Kane’s departure; he has already been involved in 17 goals (twelve goals, five assists) in 20 league games this season. In total, the former Leverkusen and Hamburg player has an incredible 243 direct goal involvements in 393 competitive appearances for the “Spurs”. In view of these consistently outstanding numbers, it is always astonishing that he is never taken into account for major playing honors from UEFA and FIFA – but with a top performance at the Asian Cup, Son can once again play his way into the foreground.