Taeguk Warriors to play Saudi Arabia, Tunisia in friendlies

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Taeguk Warriors to play Saudi Arabia, Tunisia in friendlies

Published: 17 Aug. 2023, 12:56 Updated: 17 Aug. 2023, 13:50

PAIK JI-HWAN
paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr

Korea's Hwang In-beom, center, in action during a friendly match against Saudi Arabia at Baniyas Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Dec. 31, 2018. [KOREA FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION]

The Korean national team will play a friendly against Saudi Arabia in September before facing Tunisia the following month, the Korea Football Association announced Wednesday.

The Taeguk Warriors, led by Jurgen Klinsmann, will take on Saudi Arabia on Sept. 12 in Newcastle, Britain, five days after a friendly with Wales in Cardiff.

Korea was originally planning to play a match against Mexico after the Wales friendly, but Mexico declined the offer last month.

Saudi Arabia, ranked 54th on the FIFA rankings, is ranked much lower than No. 28 Korea. The Middle Eastern country, however, qualified for the 2022 World Cup and beat Argentina, who became champions of the tournament that year, 2-1 in the group stage, despite failing to reach the round of 16.

Korea has faced Saudi Arabia 17 times and won four games, drew seven and lost six. The most recent clash in a friendly in 2019 in the United Arab Emirates ended with a goalless draw.

The upcoming friendly with Saudi Arabia will serve as a tune-up match ahead of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, in which Korea will face multiple Middle Eastern countries, like Jordan and Bahrain, in the group stage.

Two friendlies with Wales and Saudi Arabia will be Klinsmann's first away games after his four matches in Korea that went winless — a 2-2 draw with Colombia and a 2-1 loss against Uruguay in March and a 1-0 loss against Peru and a 1-1 draw with El Salvador in June.

The Taeguk Warriors will then play two more friendlies back in Korea in October, with the first match against Tunisia on Oct. 13 and the second fixture yet to be announced.

No. 31 Tunisia failed to advance to the knockout stage of the World Cup last year, but they beat then-defending champions France 1-0 in the group stage.

The match against Tunisia will be tough, as Tunisian players have a robust physique and quickly transition from attack to defense. Korea has never beaten Tunisia before, having recorded one draw and one loss so far.

Klinsmann will first announce the squad for the September friendlies on Aug. 28. The upcoming friendlies will likely see more of the manager's influence with potential new players joining the team.

Klinsmann's influence was not clear in the March friendlies, as he used the squad he inherited from his predecessor Paulo Bento. He then made a few changes to the team in June but still failed to secure a win.

Korean national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann instructs his players during a friendly match against Peru at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in Busan on June 16. [NEWS1]

A lack of decisiveness by strikers Cho Gue-sung, Hwang Ui-jo and Oh Hyeon-gyu was clear in the June friendlies. Cho and Oh missed multiple chances, while Hwang managed one goal against El Salvador.

Klinsmann may pick a new striker for the match against Wales but will not likely exclude Cho, as he has shown good performance since moving to Danish team FC Midtjylland, scoring three goals in four league matches so far.

Klinsmann is in Europe now, as he will monitor the likes of Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur, Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich and Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain — all based in Europe — before the September friendlies.

He will head straight to Britain in September to prepare for the Wales friendly. K League players will jet off to Britain on Sept. 4.

The upcoming friendlies are a chance for Klinsmann to redeem himself from the past four games and show the aggressive style of football he regularly touts. He said in his first press conference as national team manager in March that he would rather win a game 4-3 than 1-0.

He is currently the only manager in Korean national team history to have failed to manage a win in their four games in charge.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]