The South Korean men’s national soccer team, led by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, won 3-1 against Bahrain in the first Group E match of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup held at Jasim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, at 8:30 p.m. on the 15th (Korea time).
Korea is aiming for its first championship in 64 years after winning the second Asian Cup championship in 1960. The victory signaled a good start for Korea by earning three points in its first group match while maintaining its absolute advantage over Bahrain (12-4 draw and 1 loss). Korea and Bahrain are aiming for a berth to the round of 16 in Group E with Jordan and Malaysia.
Twenty-four Asian Cup teams will play in six groups for the Asian Cup finals. The 12 teams ranking first and second in each group will advance to the round of 16. The top four teams ranking third in each group will also win a ticket to the round of 16. If Korea tops Group E, its opponent will be second in Group D.
“The first round of a major championship is always important. It influences the overall mood of a major championship.” First of all, the victory itself felt good. Although the team is ranked below Han (ranking 23rd in Korean FIFA rankings, 86th in Bahrain), it gained momentum by achieving a landslide victory.
In fact, Korea and Son Heung-min desperately want the trophy more than any other Asian team. Korea, which is suffering from the Asian Cup jinx, has won the title in consecutive events in the first event in 1956 and the second event in 1960. However, Korea has been in second place only four times over the next 63 years, which has nothing to do with winning the title. 스포츠토토사이트
Korea had an overwhelming 71 percent share, but Bahrain’s counterattacks continued to expose dangerous scenes. Notably, Bahrain continued to create dangerous scenes even when Bahrain failed to properly catch the ball. Notably, the team continued to allow Bahrain’s counterattacks from the sidelines.
On the day, Klinsmann once again used Lee Ki-je, whom he is pushing, as the starting fullback. However, Lee was below expectations. Lee seemed to be constantly losing ground in competition with his opponent. He created a dangerous scene by blocking the penetration of strikers on his side.
In particular, the loss scene was a problem. Bahrain sent the ball into the box with a good link play in the sixth minute of the second half, and the ball later spilled over to frontline striker al-Hashashi. Al-Hashashi calmly shot to make the goal. In the process, Lee failed to block Bahrain’s attack and became a starting point for the loss.
Soon after the scene, Klinsmann used a substitute card. Instead of Lee Ki-je, he deployed Kim Tae-hwan. With Kim Jin-su in injury situation, Seol ultimately changed his mind to the left due to Kim. After this scene, Korea won the game comfortably by conceding two goals.
In a way, the replacement right after the loss was clearly reprimanded. In many ways, Klinsmann himself seemed to admit that Lee Ki-je’s appointment was a failure. Except for this scene, Lee Ki-je was given a warning in the 28th minute of the first half when he was pushed back one-on-one with the opponent’s defender.
On the day, Lee only won six ground ball contests. It was fortunate that he was a relatively poor striker in Bahrain, but if he had confronted another opponent, it could have led to a major accident. Until now, it felt as if the trust in Lee Ki-je, which was sent by Clinsmann, had become meaningless.
Earlier, Klinsmann consistently selected Lee Ki-je, who is not even available in the original team Suwon Samsung, and explained that he has shown good performance in the national team. However, as he failed in the actual matches, his credibility thus far became meaningless.
It is safe to say that this was a predictable failure to some extent. Lee Ki-je not only showed a bad performance in the K-League in the 2023 season, but also missed the league for about three months, and he had virtually no sense of practice. It was clear that the selection of players was at the discretion of the coach, but it was a high-risk selection.
Due to this game, the Klinsman team will have great difficulty managing fullbacks. In the national squad, Kim Jin-soo and Lee Ki-je are the only professional left fullbacks. With Kim Jin-soo suffering from injuries, the sluggishness of Lee Ki-je, who received unlimited trust from Klinsman without competition, is significant.
If the team uses Seol Young-woo on the left and Kim Tae-hwan on the right, just like in the second half of the match against Bahrain, it would be effectively no different from Clinton’s thinking of Lee Ki-je as a loophole for the national team. In many ways, attention is being paid to the starting lineup for the match against Jordan.
In fact, Clinsman’s performance stabilized after the fullback was changed to Seol Young-woo and Kim Tae-hwan in the second half. In the end, Clinsman’s giving up on his stubbornness led to the result. Attention is focusing on what changes Clinsman will make to the fullback from the second game.
