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January 25 – South Korea manager Jurgen Klinsmann said he was angered by two of Malaysia’s goals that shouldn’t have stood in his view following a dramatic 3-3 draw with the Southeast Asian side.
“I am a little angry – I thought the penalty for Malaysia was not a penalty – two goals out of three should not have stood,” said the German at a news conference.
“When you control the game like this with 85% of possession, this always happens when you don’t get a two-goal advantage. Overall the group stage is done and now the tournament really starts.”
If Korea had finished top of Group E, they would have played Japan in the last sixteen, but a draw condemned the Koreans to second place and a knockout tie with Saudi Arabia, Group F winners.
Klinsmann denied that the underwhelming performance had anything to do with avoiding four-time champions Japan, who finished second in Group D behind Iraq. “We didn’t want to avoid Japan, that was not our plan – to concede three goals,” said Klinsmann.
“We wanted to go through in first place, that was our goal. Malaysia defended really well, you have to give them a lot of credit, they worked really hard, and they played with a lot of heart, but we should have won this game.”
Klinsmann highlighted that his team received no cautions and had plenty of scoring opportunities, but singled out defensive transition as an area for improvement. The German and his team will be under pressure going into the match with the Green Falcons after fluffing their lines in Group E.
“The knockout stage is different from the group stage, every team is difficult to play against which we experienced with Jordan, Bahrain and Malaysia. Asian football is very competitive, you can’t underestimate any team – they are very smart to defend, to close space down quickly, to hurt you, even if you have 85% of possession they still get their result. You learn with every game, you analyse it and you are aware that there is…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/01/25/klinsmann-turns-focus-knock-rounds-uncomfortable-group-matches/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-01-25 22:50:15
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