Korean football officials call for Klinsmann to be axed

Football

Published: 15 Feb. 2024, 17:01 Updated: 15 Feb. 2024, 17:02

Korean football officials call for Klinsmann to be axed

Jurgen Klinsmann is seen before the Asian Cup semifinal between Jordan and Korea in Qatar on Feb. 6. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Jurgen Klinsmann, embattled manager of the Korean national men's football team, has reached the end of his road.

Korean football officials have called to remove Jurgen Klinsmann, embattled manager of the Korean national men's football team, after an embarrassing Asian Cup exit that followed an unimpressive year with him at the helm.

The Korea Football Association National Team Committee announced in a press conference Thursday that it recommends Klinsmann be replaced.

The final decision falls with beleaguered KFA chairman Chung Mong-gyu, who has been criticized for allegedly overstepping his authority in making hiring decisions for the team.

KFA Technical Director Hwangbo Kwan said during the conference that the KFA National Team Committee had reached the decision in a meeting earlier that day.

"Even though the semifinal against Jordan was the second time we had faced them in the tournament, [Klinsmann] lacked tactical preparation," Hwangbo said. "In regards to player selection, there was a view that Klinsmann was not willing to seek out and discover players by watching them in person."

Reporters gather to hear KFA Technical Director Hwangbo Kwan announce the decision of a National Team Committee meeting in Seoul on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Klinsmann took the helm at Korea just a year ago, leading the national team through a long winless run, a brief turnaround, and then a hugely disappointing Asian Cup that saw the Taeguk Warriors crash out in the semifinals last week.

Klinsmann signed with Korea in February last year on a contract that was supposed to run through the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Details of the contract were never disclosed, but Klinsmann was said to be earning $2.2 million a year. The KFA is expected to still have to pay the remainder of that contract, as well as the contracts of all of Klinsmann’s staff.

Klinsmann attended Thursday’s meeting via video call, having flown to the United States to visit family earlier this week.

Klinsmann’s position with the Korean national team has been under fire since the day it was announced, with fans immediately questioning the appointment of a manager who has been so frequently criticized for his lack of tactical vision that Philipp Lahm, who played under Klinsmann at Bayern Munich, even wrote in his autobiography that there was little technical instruction and the team only ever practiced fitness.

The KFA National Team Committee, including Jurgen Klinsmann attending via video conference, meet at the Korea Football Association headquarters in central Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

After taking the helm, Klinsmann presided over a five-game winless run, the worst of any manager starting their career with Korea, drawing with Colombia, El Salvador and Wales and losing to Uruguay and Peru.

The tables then turned, and Korea took seven wins on the road — admittedly all against fairly soft targets — starting with Saudi Arabia in September last year and culminating in a 3-1 win over Bahrain to start the Asian Cup last month.

Things took a sharp turn for the worse in Qatar. The 3-1 win over Bahrain was uncomfortably nervy, and the draws with Jordan and Malaysia that followed left a disappointed nation wondering exactly what had happened to their golden generation.

Korea limped into the knockout stage and continued to limp all the way to the semifinals against Jordan, where they exited without placing a single shot on target against a team that theoretically sits about 50 spots lower on the FIFA world ranking.

Klinsmann’s behavior has also upset fans.

Long before the Asian Cup started, there was mounting criticism of the amount of time he spent out the country — both visiting family in the United States and traveling to Europe to watch Korean players based there.

Even his facial expressions have come under fire, fans and reporters alike unhappy with his generally cheery disposition even as things turned from bad to worse.

Alongside Klinsmann, as much criticism has been directed at KFA Chairman Chung, both for appointing Klinsmann and for the general state of Korean football.

Chung was not part of Thursday’s meeting, but is ultimately responsible for deciding whether to accept the committee's recommendation or not.

Thursday’s meeting came a day after reports broke that there was a altercation between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in on the sidelines of the Asian Cup last week.

Details of the situation are unclear — Britain’s The Sun reported Son was injured in an altercation with another player and Korean reports added Lee to the mix — but the KFA confirmed yesterday that Son was involved in an altercation with another player.

Lee also apologized for the incident, although his legal representatives say that it was not a physical altercation.

Some fans believe that the KFA was behind the original leak to The Sun and question whether the unusually quick confirmation of the news yesterday was an attempt to shift the focus off the KFA. Others think the news was intended to make it easier for the KFA to fire Klinsmann — who has generally been seen as good at team building — while allowing the KFA to save face, or possibly even to up the pressure on Chung.

BY JIM BULLEY AND PAIK JI-HWAN [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]