Of course, there were many variables: ‘Captain’ Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur) was unable to play due to injury, while ‘Monster’ Kim Min-jae (Napoli) and ‘Lightning’ Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan Hyundai) were ruled out early on. With the core of the offense missing, a whopping five newcomers made their A-match debuts. Obviously, it was a difficult environment to perform at our best.
Even so, we can’t help but be disappointed. Even taking into account the new faces’ adjustment and organizational issues, we didn’t see the kind of football Jürgen Klinsmann wants to play. The team experimented with different formations, from a two-top to a three-back, but nothing really stood out. Of course, it was supposed to be a preparation for the Asian Cup, but it only showed structural problems.
Klinsmann’s men failed to get their first win again. The South Korean A team lost 0-1 to Peru in a friendly at the Busan Asiad main stadium on Saturday. After a 1-1 draw in the March A match, Klinsmann was looking for his first win against Peru, but after a disappointing performance, he lost again.
After maintaining the style of his predecessor, Paulo Bento, in the March A match, Klinsmann opted to make some big changes against Peru. He switched to a 4-4-2 formation. The goal remained the same. Instead of Son Heung-min, Kim Seung-kyu (Al Shabab) wore the captain’s armband. The backline was a combination we hadn’t seen before: Lee Ki-je (Suwon Samsung), Jeong Seung-hyun (Ulsan), Park Ji-soo (Portimonense), and Ahn Hyun-beom (Jeju United). Except for Lee, the other three were making their first appearance at Lake Klinsmann. Ahn Hyun-beom was making his A-match debut. In the midfield, Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), Hwang In-beom (Olympiacos), Won Doo-jae (Gimcheon Commerce), and Lee Kang-in (Mallorca) stood. The top two were Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Oh Hyun-gyu (Celtic). It was Hwang’s first appearance in the Cleanse and Oh’s first A-Match start.
Klinsmann, who was praised for his so-called “central hand” tactic in the A-Match in March, where he used Son Heung-min in the center of the field, more like a striker than a midfielder, came into this game in a different form. It was an experiment, but it was a game where we could see a Plan B. With two attacking fullbacks up front in Lee Ki-je and Ahn Hyun-beom, it looked like they would maximize their flanks, but it was a frustrating game.
The most disappointing aspect was the buildup. Under Bento, the defensive midfielder would drop between the center backs to create a three-back formation. It’s also the most common form of building up from the back. Against Peru, the buildup was different: one of the left and right fullbacks formed a three-back with the center back. Ahn Hyun-beom, on the right, usually played this role. Ahn is an aggressive wingback who is optimized for the three at the back. He’s almost a winger. He’s unfamiliar with the back four, and his buildup role meant that he couldn’t pass the ball properly.
To make matters worse, Won’s positioning as a defensive midfielder was almost as bad. He was not in a good position to receive the ball, and even if he did, his options for passing the ball were not good. Even in Gimcheon, Won Doo-jae plays more as a defender than a midfielder. He’s not in great shape either. Park Ji-soo, Jeong Seung-hyun, and Ahn Hyun-beom are unfamiliar to me, but the back line with Won Doo-jae, who was not playing well, could not pass the ball properly. As a result, Hwang In-beom, the ‘center nucleus’, was unable to play his role. He didn’t catch the ball very often, and it was difficult for him to get involved in the game. Without him in the center, we couldn’t attack properly. The straight, fast soccer that had been so well received in the March A match was gone.
The only breakthrough was Lee Kang-in. Without a proper formation, the only route to threaten the opponent was through Lee Kang-in’s individual skills. With his dazzling dribbling and sharp kicks, Lee made seven key passes and two shots on target. Lee stood out.
Klinsmann reacted quickly in the second half. At the start of the second half, he moved Lee Jae-sung from the left flank to the center. Hwang Hee-chan moved to the left wing, switching to a 4-2-3-1. However, the situation remained the same, as the ball was not circulating in the back, and it was only after Hong Hyun-seok (Gent) was replaced by Park Yong-woo (Ulsan Hyundai) that the game started to unravel.
The team switched to a 4-3-3 formation, 안전놀이터 and the buildup system was overhauled. Park Yong-woo’s excellent positioning, distribution, and defense were all in line with his play for the “No. 1 team” Ulsan. Once Park settled in at the back, the team’s tempo picked up. Hwang In-beom was also able to be more active in supporting the attack. Klinsmann brought on Park Kyu-hyun (Dynamo Dresden) in the last minute to switch to a full back and increase the number of attacks. However, no goals were scored in the end. 메이저도메인
While it was a positive that the team made a number of changes in the second half to turn the tide, the Peru game showed that Klinsmann still has a long way to go. Even with Son Heung-min and Kim Min-jae in the lineup, the team didn’t look like it would have been much better.