Some soccer fans shout "Go home" and tuck it at the coach

South Korea's national soccer team coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who finished his 2023 Asian Football Confederation AFC Qatar Asian Cup schedule, returns home through Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 on the afternoon of the 8th and answers reporters' questions.

Jurgen Klinsmann, head coach of the national soccer team, who was eliminated in the semifinals of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation AFC Asian Cup, dismissed the possibility of voluntary resignation.

The South Korean national soccer team, including coach Klinsmann, completed its Asian Cup schedule and returned home through Incheon International Airport on the evening of the 8th. The national team returned to the country after being eliminated in the semifinal match of the Asian Cup against Jordan early on the 7th in Korean time with a complete defeat of 0-2 without recording any effective shots. Of the 26 players who participated in the Asian Cup, 13 players returned home on the same day, including Cho Hyun-woo Ulsan, Kim Tae-hwan Jeonbuk, Hwang In-beom Turbena Zvezda, and Seol Young-woo Ulsan, and the remaining 13 players, including Son Heung-min Tottenham, Kim Min-jae Bayern Munich, Lee Kang-in Paris Saint-Germain, and Hwang Hee-chan Wolverhampton, returned to their respective teams immediately from Qatar.

Most of the players who were criticized by fans for failing to advance to the final due to a humiliating defeat against Jordan, which they had drawn in the group league, arrived in Korea with dark expressions. However, Klinsmann greeted fans and officials at Incheon International Airport with a bright expression on his own.

In response, some of the 300 soccer fans gathered at the Incheon International Airport arrival hall protested against Klinsmann, shouting "This is soccer!" or "Go home" and throwing taffy at the coach.

"This Asian Cup is not a failure," Klinsmann said in an interview with reporters. "I really wanted to win this championship as much as you. However, I failed to achieve my goal after losing the match against Jordan," Klinsmann said. "However, before I met Jordan, I brought results and rewarded them with a good game. In the semifinal, Jordan was a much better team and deserved to advance to the final."

"I can't say that advancing to the quarterfinals is a failure," he said. "This was a very difficult competition. Not only Korea but also other teams such as Japan struggled a lot as the competition was held in the Middle East."

"I think the joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure that we get from soccer is a part of soccer," Klinsmann said. "Many people must have been happy when they won the round of 16 or the quarterfinals, and if they are eliminated, public opinion will change and negative or extreme remarks will inevitably emerge," he said. "The attitude of a leader and a soccer player is to know how to accept such criticism."

Klinsmann said, "We are in the process of growing up. I have discovered something new over the past year. I want to tell you that I am watching the North-Central American World Cup with young players on my team," adding, "I think the national team is growing in the right direction."

Asked if he had any conversations with Chung Mong-kyu, president of the Korea Football Association, after the tournament, Klinsmann said, "We had two meetings in the local area and had a lot of conversations about the tournament. We talked about positive things as well as negative things that need to be supplemented. We talked about things that we need to prepare in the future, including the two consecutive World Cup qualifiers against Thailand in March, which is just around the corner."

After being criticized for his frequent overseas schedules since taking office, he said he would stick to the way he performed his work. 스포츠토토

"I can't be away for a long time because there is a World Cup qualifying round," he said, but added, "The national team coach should do various tasks, including business trips, in a different way than the professional team coach. I know there are criticisms, but my way of working will not change."

"He is still the captain and the leader of the team," Klinsmann said of captain Son Heung-min after the match against Jordan. "Of course, I will join the national team as captain in March."