There’s a lesson for South Korean national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann to take to heart.
It’s a terrible start. Since taking over the reins of the South Korean national soccer team, Klinsmann has drawn three games and lost two, and has yet to pick up a win. Criticism of Klinsmann has been fierce, and now even foreign media are talking about firing him.
What’s worse is that it’s not surprising, given what we’ve seen from Klinsmann so far. There is no normal “process” here.
The ‘working from home’ controversy is no secret to soccer fans. Klinsmann doesn’t see a problem with it. “There is an exaggeration. I coach differently than I used to, and even though I’m abroad, I’m in constant contact,” he defends himself. It’s a statement that raises questions about the “responsibility” of being a national team coach.
The Korean national team coach’s repeated overseas travels have led to unprecedented incidents. In August, Klinsmann was interviewed by Korean media via ZOOM from his home in Los Angeles. It was a bizarre face-to-face encounter. He also dismissed the September A-match call-up as a “press release. We didn’t get to hear Klinsmann’s side of the story on player selection. It’s an incomprehensible behavior.
The same goes for the national team’s recent coaching staff changes. Michael Kim, the only coach who had been with the team since the days of Paulo Bento, left the national team before the September A match. He was replaced by advisor Chaduri. Klinsmann reportedly demanded that Michael Kim change his title to “scout,” which the coach did not accept.
A scout is a rare position in the national team. It’s more suited to professional clubs where player recruitment is key. For the national team, it”s important to pick the right players to represent the country, and that”s the job of the manager and coaches.
With Michael Kim’s focus on training and identifying K League players, Klinsmann’s role was limited to “scouting.” Questions about whether this was a move to bring in a Chaduri advisor to join the coaching staff, which he had wanted to do for some time, continued to arise, as did confusion in the national team.
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“It was a good game to test us,” Klinsmann said after the 0-0 draw with Wales. We’re in the middle of a generational change and the staff is still working on our style of play,” he said defensively.
The process does not betray the result.
Klinsmann should know that. Klinsmann is clearly not following normal procedures, as evidenced by his history as the longest winless foreign manager in the history of the national team.