New coach could be gamble for Team Korea

• Published date: 07 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

The man charged with leading South Korea to the 2023 Asian Cup ? to be played in January 2024 ? and, hopefully, the 2026 World Cup is Jurgen Klinsmann. While few doubt his credentials as a player for winning the 1990 World Cup with West Germany and starring for Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur, his coaching credentials are more debatable.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) is hoping that the 58-year-old is the man to take the Taeguk Warriors forward after four years of Paolo Bento. The Portuguese tactician's time in Seoul was not always smooth but he did deliver a place in the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup, just a third appearance in the knockout stages for the country.

Klinsmann was a media pundit during that tournament. In fact, one worry is that apart from an ill-fated 76-day spell in charge of Hertha Berlin in 2019, he hasn't coached since 2016. Back then, he was in charge of the United States, a job he started in 2011. He took the team to the 2012 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the continental title, and into the final 16 of the 2014 World Cup. Before that, he took Germany to the semifinal of the 2006 World Cup on his home soil.

That is now not far from 20 years ago. Even in 2006, there were questions as to whether he was the one that drove Germany forward, with many having the opinion that his assistant Joachim Low, who went on to lead the team to the 2014 title, was the tactical brain of the operation. Quite how tactically astute Klinsmann was when he was working in big soccer jobs was...