Jürgen Klinsmann, undaunted by the criticism, seems to be moving in the direction of public opinion. Now it’s what comes out of his mouth that matters.
Klinsmann’s team just completed their first European tour in five years. They drew 0-0 with Wales and won 1-0 against Saudi Arabia. The win over Saudi Arabia was Klinsmann’s first since taking over. For the national team, it was their first win since coming from behind to beat Portugal in their third group game at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Despite this long-awaited victory, Klinsmann’s public opinion is not favorable. Apart from the results and performances, there are reasons to criticize Klinsmann’s demeanor. Klinsmann has been controversial since his arrival, due to his career and previous evaluations. Upon his arrival, Klinsmann managed to silence the doubters with his eloquent speech at his inaugural press conference. Then, in March’s A match, he showed a decent, albeit winless, performance that raised expectations.
The problem came later. After a poor showing in the June A match, Klinsmann reversed his decision to stay in Korea and moved to the United States. The K League players expressed their desire to travel around Europe to observe the European wave after watching an analytical video program called Wise Scout. He didn’t say when he would come to Korea or how he would select the roster.
He didn’t want to come to Korea, but he didn’t mind traveling to different countries. He went to the UEFA Champions League (UCL) and Europa League (UCL) group draws, and visited AS Monaco to reminisce about his playing days. In addition to the controversy over his participation in the Legends Match, the issue of ignoring the national team while participating in the panel, and other issues occurred at the same time, and Klinsmann’s credibility was at its lowest point.
The criticism of Klinsmann reached a fever pitch after a shocking 0-0 draw against Wales. In the post-match interview, Klinsmann shocked everyone with his unintelligible comments. He said something different from what he had said at his inaugural press conference. In a must-win game against Saudi Arabia, Klinsmann somehow managed to play winning soccer, contrary to the direction he had announced, such as changing generations and experimenting with new faces, and eventually won 1-0.
Even after the victory against Saudi Arabia, Klinsmann was not viewed favorably. Despite this, Klinsmann announced his intention to attend matches against Bayern Munich and Leverkusen to watch Kim Min-jae instead of returning home. The fans behind him once again criticized him.
It seemed like Klinsmann would stand his ground, but he did not. The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced on September 13, “The national team is scheduled to return home through Incheon Airport Terminal 2 on September 14. We will conduct a return interview with Coach Klinsmann at the departure hall.” “Klinsmann was initially scheduled to watch a Bundesliga match in Munich this week and visit European clubs for meetings with officials. The idea was to analyze with the European coaching staff and return to Korea before the October A match. At today’s coaching staff meeting, we decided to reschedule the trip to begin the process of identifying K League players before the October roster announcement.”
“This is my way,” said Klinsmann, who remained unfazed by the criticism for months. Klinsmann’s words will be closely watched as he returns to Korea for the first time in a long time. He is likely to try to calm public opinion once again, as he did during his inauguration press conference, by giving an interview. In the meantime, Mr. Klinsmann has been full of incomprehensible remarks, and it will be interesting to see if he will give another interview at Incheon Airport.토토사이트
His future behavior is also key. Now that we have more eyes on Klinsmann, we can see if he is just trying to save face or if he is trying to do things differently by working at home instead of abroad. If it’s the former, Klinsmann will be criticized more than he has been before. For now, we’ll have to wait and see if Klinsmann is willing to change, both in his interview in Korea and in his future behavior.
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