
New South Korea head coach Jurgen Klinsmann is ready for the new challenge after taking over the duties of the Asian side. Klinsmann, 1990 World Cup winner with Germany is ready for embark on the new challenge as the head coach of Korea while stating that he is a big fan of Son Heung Min who leads the national side. Both Son and Klinsmann have connections of sort as the former currently plays for Tottenham Hotspurs, with the latter also playing for the London club in his playing days.
"So, I'm a big fan of Sonny (Son Heung-min). There’s no doubt. He had a very difficult World Cup because he was not 100 percent healthy. And obviously I saw all the games and I felt for him, but I think this is a normal period and every player goes through little up and downs. And also situation also sometimes at Tottenham is not so easy. I hope that I'm going to see him in two weeks and he comes with a smile and is hungry for the national team,” Klinsmann said while addressing the press.
“Obviously, my personal background was a striker. So I always love to attack, and that means I’d rather win a game, 4-3 than one-nil. But at the end of the day, I think a coach always has to adapt his approach and his philosophy to the people that's around him, mainly the players. So based on who you have as players and what capabilities your team has, you need to adapt that philosophy to your approach,” the former World Cup winner said on his job.
Klinsmann, 58, was officially unveiled as South Korea head coach in February, replacing Paulo Bento. Son scored 23 times for Tottenham in the Premier League last season to finish level at the summit of the scorers' chart with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah but since then the 30-year-old has only netted five times in the league.
"(Cha) Du-ri is very, very important to connect me with the K-league, with the coaches in the K- league, with the people here, with all the things that I established here in Korea. So he's a very important person to have on the side when I need him. And I will also have Michael Kim, who was already with Paulo Bento and the staff, and then from Europe I will bring my former assistant coach and he was head coach of Israel, just lately, Andreas Herzog,” 58-year-old coach said.
The new head coach is hoping he can use his own experience to help reinvigorate Son when they meet up for South Korea's friendly matches against Colombia and Uruguay on March 24 and March 28 respectively.
Klinsmann said former South Korean national team’s player, Cha Du-ri, who played for Bayer 04 Leverkusen, will be the new technical advisor, and former Austrian footballer, Andreas Herzog, will support him as assistant coach.