Jürgen Klinsmann is the most spectacular interviewer of the Korean national soccer team ever. No, even if you look abroad, I wonder if there is a person with this strong mentality. Regardless of the very harsh atmosphere of public opinion, he responded with a colorful speech with a full smile.
I don’t know if you know the Korean proverb that you can’t spit on a smiling face, but coach Klinsmann laughed and didn’t budge despite the “scratching questions” asked by reporters. However, there were thorns everywhere in the laughing remarks. From the first answer to his/her thoughts on returning home, he/she criticized the Korean media, which he/she only talked about at home, saying, “It would have been better if you came to England and watched our game in person.”
When asked why he changed his schedule and returned to Korea instead of staying in Europe, he replied, “You told me to come in,” and the atmosphere was not good for the moment, he tried to move on to his unique person’s good laugh. “The Korea Football Association said that many media wait at the airport when they return from overseas away games. It’s new because it’s something I’ve never experienced when I was in charge of Germany or the U.S.
He said it as if he liked the welcoming atmosphere, but no one was welcome at the scene, and coach Klinsmann was aware of it. He’s smiling, but it’s a way of speaking that cleverly stimulates his opponent. “I hope all of you (media) will see it in Qatar,” he said, slowly touching the behavior of Korean media that are not active in covering overseas away games and expressing confidence that he will show it properly once in the finals. If you take a good look at every word, his interview is as good as a politician.
Anyway, to sum up the argument that coach Klinsmann wanted to leave, the national team aiming to win the 2023 AFC Qatar Asian Cup should not be shaken from the outside like this. This is the case of his country’s German national soccer team, which performed worst at the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup, stressing that forces (media and fans) that shake the national team from the outside must also become one in a positive atmosphere to succeed.
This is also true at first glance. The national team that everyone watches is really vulnerable to the external shock of public opinion. Korean media and fans are also well aware of the past cases of the national team, which was shaken by internal and external issues in the game and eventually collapsed. So everyone tried to watch carefully even after Klinsmann took over.
A performance problem? It’s okay if you’re nervous. As coach Klinsmann claimed, the March A match was played in the absence of Son Heung-min and Kim Min-jae in the June A match to see the skills of the members of the last Qatar World Cup. There was no Lee Kang-in in the A match in September. As coach Klinsmann said, he has never fought with 100 percent of his strength. Knowing that, he does not make a loud voice to the level that he is somewhat disappointed about performance problems.
The real problem isn’t the team, it’s the manager. If you were a person who knew that a positive atmosphere was essential to the team’s goal achievement, you shouldn’t have said anything that would cause so much controversy. Now, he does not understand or acknowledge that he made all the “negative negative things” that caused Germany to burst out, which coach Klinsmann is worried about.
Coach Klinsmann’s press conference was drawn to the Korea Football Association’s forced persuasion, but it was not the way I wanted it to be. Although the interview ended with a smile, all the media who heard Klinsmann on the spot that day will be watching his actions and the national team’s performance with even more fierce eyes.