PAJU, South Korea, Jurgen Klinsmann, new head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, on Thursday showed his strong preference for attacking football during his inaugural press conference in the country.
The German football legend arrived in South Korea on Wednesday after being appointed to the post last week.
He will lead Korea through the 2026 FIFA World Cup, taking over from Paulo Bento, who coached the team to the last 16 at last year's World Cup in Qatar to cap off his four-year tenure.
"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," he said at the National Football Center (NFC) in Paju, about 30 kilometers northwest of Seoul. He was questioned about his philosophy for football and how he will apply it to the South Korean team during the press conference.
"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," he added.
He said he is confident to learn quickly about the team and understand what is best for it, with only 10 months away from the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar.
He previously said his goal at the helm of the Taeguk Warriors is to win the Asian Cup in January next year during an interview with reporters upon his arrival in the country. South Korea's last Asian Cup win came in 1960.
Klinsmann was one of the world's top strikers in his playing days, winning the 1990 World Cup for West Germany and becoming the first player to score at least three goals at three consecutive World Cups.
As head coach, Klinsmann led Germany to third place at the 2006 World Cup and the United States to the last 16 at the 2014 tournament. He, however, has not coached a national team since 2016 and his latest club coaching stint, with Hertha BSC, lasted just 10 weeks in early 2020.
As for the concerns from his detractors about the long hiatus in his coaching career, Klinsmann stressed that he has always been connected to football even if he was not coaching, leading the Technical Study Group at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and working for BBC and ESPN in America as a commentator.
The 58-year-old said he will try to silence his detractors with good results, presenting the Taeguk Warriors' winning of the next Asian Cup as a short-term goal and advancing to the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup as a long-term goal.
He also unveiled a list of those appointed as his backroom staff during the news conference.
According to him, Cha Du-ri, a former South Korea international and son of Bundesliga legend Cha Bum-kun, will take a technical adviser role until the end of the next Asian Cup.
The list also had Michael Kim, who assisted the former South Korean national team coach Paulo Bento in coaching the team; Andreas Herzog, an Austrian former footballer who was Klinsmann's former assistant coach and head coach of the Israel national team; and Andreas Kopke, an ex-goalkeeper coach of the German national team.
Source: Yonhap News Agency