South Korea fights its way to the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup against Saudi Arabia

Asia Cup

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Former national coach Jürgen Klinsmann reached the quarter-finals with South Korea at the Asian Cup after a nerve-wracking game. In the duel between 2022 World Cup participants, the South Koreans won 4-2 (1-1, 1-1, 0-0) on penalties against Saudi Arabia in Al-Rajjan on Tuesday.

Gue-sung Cho saved South Korea into extra time with his goal in the ninth minute of stoppage time. Abdullah Radif (46th) scored to give Saudi Arabia the lead in the Education City Stadium. In the next round, the South Koreans will face Australia on Friday. At midday, Uzbekistan reached the next round with a 2-1 win against Thailand.

The 59-year-old Klinsmann took over the South Korean team in March 2023 and his contract runs until after the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Against Saudi Arabia, as he often did in the tournament, he relied on Woo-yeong Jeong from VfB Stuttgart, Min-jae Kim from FC Bayern Munich and Jae-sung Lee from FSV Mainz 05. The trio is still missing from the Bundesliga clubs due to their place in the quarter-finals .

A fifth division player is included: all German clubs’ secondments for the Asian Cup

Min-jae Kim (Bavaria) | South Korea | Market value: €60 million

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Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart) | Japan | Market value: €22 million

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Ritsu Doan (Freiburg) | Japan | Market value: €18 million

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Ko Itakura (Gladbach) | Japan | Market value: €15 million

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Takuma Asano (Bochum) | Japan | Market value: €4 million

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Woo-yeong Jeong (Stuttgart) | South Korea | Market value: €3.5 million

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Jae-sung Lee (Mainz) | South Korea | Market value: €3 million

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Jackson Irvine (St. Pauli) | Australia | Market value: €1.8 million

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Connor Metcalfe (St Pauli) | Australia | Market value: €1.5 million

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Youssef Amyn (Braunschweig) | Iraq | Market value: €350,000

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John Iredale (Wiesbaden) | Australia | Market value: €300,000

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Michael Udebuluzor (Ingolstadt II) | Hong Kong | Market value: €50,000

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