Klinsmann to head to Europe ahead of September friendly

Korean men’s national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann will visit Europe to watch the Korean players based there in action ahead of a friendly with Wales in September, a Korean Football Association (KFA) official said Wednesday.

Korean national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann speaks to reporters during a press conference at the Korea Football Association House in Jongno District, central Seoul on June 22. [YONHAP]

Korean men’s national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann will visit Europe to watch the Korean players based there in action ahead of a friendly with Wales in September, a Korean Football Association (KFA) official said Wednesday.

Klinsmann will stay in Europe for the late summer, where he will monitor Korean players like Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur, Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich and Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain — all based in Europe.

This marks the second time he has visited Europe since taking the Korea job, after an initial trip in April. On that trip, he watched Son and then-Napoli defender Kim as well as Lee Jae-sung of Mainz and Oh Hyeon-gyu of Celtic.

The KFA official said that his schedule may change, but Klinsmann will head to Britain to train with the national team ahead of the friendly with Wales after monitoring the players.

The friendly with Wales will take place at Cardiff and will be Klinsmann’s first away game with the national team.

While Klinsmann is in Europe, assistant coach Andreas Herzog and advisor Cha Du-ri will watch the K League players in action here to see who could be called up to join the national team.

The upcoming friendly against Wales may see more of Klinsmann’s influence with potential new players joining his squad.

The German manager’s influence was not clear in his first two games in charge, as he used the squad he inherited from his predecessor Paulo Bento. The first two matches in March ended with a 2-2 draw with Colombia and 2-1 loss against Uruguay.

Klinsmann then made a few changes to the squad in June, but still failed to secure a win against Peru and El Salvador — losing 1-0 to Peru and drawing 1-1 with El Salvador.

A lack of decisiveness by strikers Cho Gue-sung, Hwang Ui-jo and Oh was clear in the June friendlies. Cho and Oh missed multiple chances, while Hwang managed one goal against El Salvador.

Klinsmann may pick a new striker for the match against Wales, but will not likely exclude Cho, as he has shown good performance since moving to Danish team FC Midtjylland, scoring two goals in two games so far.

The match against Wales is a chance for Klinsmann to redeem himself from the past four games and show the aggressive style of football he regularly touts.

Currently, Klinsmann is the only foreign manager in Korean national team history to have failed to manage a win in their first four games in charge.

Korea hope to play one more game in Europe after the Wales friendly, although the KFA is yet to confirm a plan.

Klinsmann jetted off to the United States on Tuesday to visit his family. He will work there remotely until heading to Europe.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]