“The fact that we are only given two days off before the game against Australia is the price we pay for not finishing first in the group,” said Jurgen Klinsmann, coach of the Korean national soccer team, at the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar match against Saudi Arabia on the 30th (local time).
He said this after finishing the Asian Cup round of 16.
Korea was unable to tie the game at 1-1 until overtime, and won 4-2 in a penalty shootout, barely advancing to the quarterfinals. 바카라사이트
The opponent in the quarterfinals is Australia.
This is the team with the best physique among the participating countries in this tournament.
However, Australia won 4-0 in the 90-minute regular time against Indonesia two days ago, on the 28th.
The match between Korea and Australia will kick off at 6:30 PM on the 2nd of next month (0:30 AM on the 3rd in Korean time).
In Korea, game day comes after two days of rest.
On the other hand, Australia can rest for four days.
In this situation, it is a big bad news that Korea had to go to a penalty shootout.
When asked how to overcome this physical problem, Coach Klinsmann said, “There is not a lot of time left.
“It’s a long time to make a difference,” he said.
“Today’s victory can give positive and bright energy to the team atmosphere.”
“I’m happy to be with these players,” he said.
Coach Klinsmann said he had no complaints about the schedule itself, which had a two-day gap in rest time between the two teams that reached the quarterfinals.
He said, “People say we took second place in the group to avoid Japan, but that’s not true at all.
We wanted to avoid this schedule by taking first place in the group.
We didn’t finish first in the group, so now we have to deal with it.”
The match on this day also attracted attention as a ‘star coach match’ between coach Klinsmann and Saudi coach Roberto Mancini.
Coach Klinsmann said, “Last September, we played an evaluation match against Saudi Arabia, where Coach Mancini had just taken office, and looking at Saudi Arabia then and now, it was amazing how much he transformed the team into a strong team in a short period of time.”
He continued, “Saudi dominated the game in the first half.
He tried to change the atmosphere at halftime, and it worked out well.”
Coach Klinsmann emphasized, “We have been continuously preparing through training for situations leading up to a penalty shootout.
We predicted it would be a difficult game, and we prepared everything.”
When asked, ‘Can you still promise Korean fans that you will win the championship?’ Coach Klinsmann said, “I never ‘promised’ that we would win.
There is nothing that can be taken for granted in soccer.
I told our fans that I would approach the competition with the goal of winning.
“It’s just that,” he said.
He continued, “Looking at our abilities, qualifications, and performance as a team, I think we are a team capable of winning.”
