"Not in Korea"

"Not in Korea" Director Klinsmann, is it really okay

Usually, the situation in which the leader of an organization loses his influence and authority and becomes a famous being is compared to the appearance of a duck walking limping. It is often used to satirize the regime, which is nearing the end of its term, and the mere appearance of the term lame duck means that the situation of the organization and its leaders is at stake.

The current situation of South Korean national football coach Jürgen Klinsmann is reminiscent of a typical lame duck. When there is a problem with the policy performance and leadership of a leader who leads an organization. In addition, if the public and public trust in him is greatly separated, it can be seen as a lame duck situation.

What is surprising here is that he has only been appointed head of the national soccer team for about five months. There have been many domestic and foreign leaders in the history of the Korean national soccer team's coach, but even if they are failed coaches, they usually have a "honeymoon" period for at least a few months in the early days of their appointment. The coach has time to identify the players and teams and color themselves, and during this period, the media and fans will refrain from criticizing as much as possible. 스포츠토토

However, it is unprecedented that a head coach like Klinsmann, who has been in office less than half a year, has already been so noisy, and his image has fallen to the bottom. And all that cause and responsibility, after all, is Klinsman himself.

Klinsmann is currently at the center of controversy due to poor performance and neglect of work. Klinsmann's team, which took over its power to reach the round of 16 at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, has achieved two draws and two losses in four games and has not won a single game. The more problem was that he could not find any differences or positive factors in player selection, tactics, and performance, even if it was possible because his performance was still in the early stages of his appointment.

The real cause of the worsening public opinion toward director Klinsmann later was a problem related to his work ethic (work ethic, sincerity). The Korea Football Association signed a contract with Klinsmann and included "resident in Korea" in its conditions. If you are a national team coach, it is common sense to reside in the country and manage the national team exclusively. All previous coaches, including former Bento, Hiddink, Advocaat, Verbeek, Bonfrere and Stielike, were faithful to their duties regardless of success or failure.

However, Klinsmann stayed in Korea for exactly 67 days during his five months in office, and much more than that, he spends more than 90 days abroad, including the United States and Europe, where he lives. The reasons varied from checking European Korean players, participating in the Asian Cup draw, and personal vacation, but most of them were replaced by remote or telecommuting except for the A match evaluation schedule. Coaches residing in Korea were in charge of inspecting K League players instead. The Korea Football Association reportedly did not specify the specific conditions for how long Klinsmann should stay in Korea.

The bigger problem is that this situation was expected to some extent. When Klinsmann was appointed as the head coach of the Korean national soccer team in March, some were concerned. Klinsmann was the best star player of the time when he was active, and as a coach, he performed well, including third place in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the U.S. team's advance to the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. However, the internal evaluation was not so good.

The biggest reason was his insincere work attitude and travel. Klinsmann often left for personal reasons even when he was a coach of the German and U.S. national teams, and was criticized by the media for preferential treatment of European players and conservative selection of players. Even during the 2020 German coach Hertha Berlin, he announced the unilateral resignation of the coach and the cancellation of the contract through his SNS in the United States, making it a banned word in the German soccer community.

At the press conference for the appointment of the Korean national team, when concerns arose about his past performance, Klinsmann honestly admitted that it was his fault, and clearly promised to find a house and work in Korea. However, if you look at Klinsmann's move after five months in office, his promise has not been kept at all. This behavior is also a deception for Korean soccer and fans. Despite the concerns, the Korea Football Association, which has recruited coach Klinsmann and is not properly managed, cannot avoid its responsibility.

Even the recent revelation that Klinsmann appeared as a panelist on the global sports media "ESPN" has caused further controversy. In a video interview with ESPN at home, Klinsmann talked about the transfer of superstars such as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Harry Kane. There were also comments about Son Heung-min and Kim Min-jae, the Korean national team players, but most of them were related to the trend of European soccer,

He is currently the head coach of the Korean national soccer team, which is Klinsmann's main job, not an overseas soccer critic. With important schedules such as the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers approaching and the national team's performance is sluggish, what he needs to pay attention to now was not the evaluation of Messina Kane, but the trend of Korean players and the future of Korean football.

If he had been faithful to his main job, ESPN's one-time appearance would not have been a big controversy. However, most of Klinsmann's "players" to foster and manage until the World Cup are in the K League and Korea, not in Europe. At a time when the K League is in full swing and there are a lot of important issues such as player withdrawal between the Hangzhou Asian Games national team and the A national team, how should we accept the national team coach's commentary on overseas soccer at his home.

The role of a national soccer coach is not all about sitting on the bench only when there is an A match or an international tournament. The mission of the national team coach is to discover new players, experiment with tactics, and ultimately think and present the direction and philosophy of Korean football. Klinsmann's attitude can only be explained as a lack of responsibility and respect for Korean football.

If this situation is repeated in the long run, there is a high possibility that there will be serious problems in coach Klinsmann's leadership. Compared to European players, domestic players may feel deprived that it is difficult to get the attention of the national team coach no matter how hard they try in the K League, which can lead to side effects that encourage a sense of incompatibility between domestic and European players.

In addition, as distrust and criticism of Klinsmann's move deepen, the national team players will also face a considerable burden. The result could eventually return to a boomerang called the early lame duck of the Klinsmann. This is why special measures seem to be needed to control Klinsmann, along with the KFA's clear statement of position before the situation worsens.