New S. Korea football coach Klinsmann ‘focused and motivated’: official

The new South Korea men’s football head coach Jurgen Klinsmann was a “focused and motivated” candidate who wanted nothing but success for his new team, an official in charge of the hiring process said Tuesday.

Michael Muller, head of the National Team Committee at the Korea Football Association (KFA), oversaw Klinsmann’s appointment, which was announced Monday.

At a press conference discussing the process, Muller said Klinsmann was the first of the five final candidates that he approached, and negotiations went so well that the KFA didn’t have to consider the other candidates.

“Jurgen Klinsmann is a strong personality. From the first second (of the interview), it was clear he wanted the job,” Muller said. “He was focused, motivated, and he was interested. He wants success.”

Klinsmann is the biggest name to take the South Korean reins, a veritable legend who won the 1990 FIFA World Cup with West Germany and became the first player to score at least three goals at three consecutive World Cups.

As a coach, Klinsmann has had ups and downs. His highlight came at the 2006 World Cup on home soil, where he guided Germany to a third-place finish.

He then coached the United States to the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup but was dismissed in 2016 after the U.S. fell to the bottom of their World Cup qualification table.

Klinsmann only had brief coaching stints at the club level. He barely lasted a year with Bayern Munich, one of his former Bundesliga clubs, and was criticized for overemphasizing fitness and not providing enough tactical instruction.

In his most recent coaching gig, Klinsmann lasted just 10 weeks at the helm of Hertha BSC in the Bundesliga in early 2020. He abruptly resigned amid apparent power struggles with the team’s management.

Muller spent the bulk of the presser defending Klinsmann’s credentials as a tactician.

“Football is not only tactics. Football is individuality. It’s about teamwork, how to motivate your team in special situations,” Muller said. “Klinsmann was a member of the Technical Study Group of the World Cup (last year in Qatar). He is not only informed about tactics; he is informed about modern devices, tools and match analysis. Jurgen Klinsmann absolutely has tactical abilities.”

Muller added Klinsmann brings other qualities to the table.

“Klinsmann is not only a coach; he’s a manager as well,” Muller explained. “He’s a motivator.”

Muller said there was no South Korean coach among the five final candidates, though they are in negotiations to include a local coach on Klinsmann’s backroom staff.

Klinsmann is succeeding Paulo Bento, who coached South Korea to the last 16 at the World Cup in Qatar to cap off his four-plus years in charge. As the longest-tenured coach in South Korean national football history, Bento was credited with instilling stability and structure, and also establishing a clear identity for the Taegeuk Warriors.

As for how Klinsmann will inherit the program with Bento’s fingerprints all over it, Muller said the new coach’s own philosophy will have to be respected.

“Each coach is different. Each new coach has a new impact on the team,” Muller said. “We have a new coach. We will see what happens. As soon as you copy another coach, you’re running behind.”

Muller also touched upon Klinsmann’s positive experience with South Korean football and South Korea the country, and also revealed that Klinsmann had been a candidate for the top South Korean job in 2018 that went to Bento.

Klinsmann scored a brace in Germany’s 3-2 win over South Korea in the group stage of the 1994 World Cup. South Korea fell behind 3-0 before battling back to make it a one-goal game, and Muller said Klinsmann spoke about how impressed he was with the “Korean fighting spirit” then.

In his post-playing career, Klinsmann came to South Korea during the 2002 World Cup as a commentator for a German television station and again in 2017 to watch his son, Jonathan, play goalkeeper for the United States at the U-20 World Cup.

Muller denied speculation that there wasn’t much communication between him and his committee members during the process. He said he and the committee sat down Monday for “an absolutely positive and fruitful meeting.”

“The committee is about discussing and expressing your opinions,” he said. “Of course, we are all adults. We don’t always have to have the same mindset. At the end of the day, it’s important that we find the final agreement.”