The Busan Asiad Main Stadium played host tonight as the Taegeuk Warriors faced Peru in an international friendly. Unfortunately, Jurgen Klinsmann’s squad lost 1-0, leaving Jurgen still searching for his first victory in charge of the Korea Republic Men’s National Team. Although there are flashes of positive play throughout all three matches, a record of 1 draw and 2 losses is not what Jurgen imagined.
For today’s match, Jurgen did have some personnel dilemmas to solve as two of his key players were missing. Son Heungmin revealed this week that he had undergone surgery to fix a sports hernia, letting the public know that he played through the pain of this injury for the full 2022-2023 season. Son stayed on the bench the whole match, earning some much needed rest and recovery after a taxing season.
Also out for this match was Kim Minjae, who is currently serving a mandatory military training period of 3 weeks. This is the same military training period that Son served during the COVID19 Pandemic break in 2020. When Kim Minjae won the Asian Games Gold Medal in 2018, he was given an exemption from the 18-21 month mandatory military service. However, the two conditions of this exemption was that he serves a significant amount of community service over his career and also undergoes a military training period within 5 years.
For today’s match, here was Klinsmann’s starting XI, with some new faces getting an opportunity.
Here is Coupang Play’s 10 minute highlights package for those who missed the match :
Coming through like he always does, Paul Jeung has his Player and Manager ratings for this match.
Klinnsman 5/10: Didn’t have the boys ready, especially in the first 15 minutes or so. I thought his subs were good and he made some decent adjustments.
Kim Seung Gyu 6/10: Had a really good save early on. On the goal there wasn’t much he could do. Minus those two things, he didn’t have much action today.
Ahn Hyun Beom 4/10: Was really excited for a new RB, but man he wasn’t it today. I know he offers a lot going forward, but he wasn’t able to showcase that at all and looked lost defensively. He looked nervous for sure.
Lee Ki Je 6/10: Not sure if he gets a 6 because of how bad Ahn was, but Ki Je was solid and had a few nice passes as well.
Park Ji Su 7/10: Our best defender for sure. Appeared to be in good position a lot, and like Ki Je sprayed out a few good passes to boot.
Jung Seung Hyun 5/10: He was a bit aggressive today, and not in a good way. He was out of position a lot and got caught slipping a few times too.
Won Du Jae 3/10: I have zero idea what he contributed today. Terrible in the air on 50/50 balls, did zero enforcing, and offered nothing going forward. I am so done with Won on the KNT. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he made me miss Jung Woo Young Sr.
Hwang In Beom 5/10: Not a good outing for him. He was loose with the ball, and generally speaking not sharp today. He may have had too much pressure on him with Won Du Jae’s incompetence, but he’s to me at a level where he should still be able to handle that and provide better initiation offensively. He was clearly lacking something today.
Lee Jae Sung 6/10: Didn’t impact the game as much as I think he should have, but he had some good touches here and there and put in his usual industrial shift. Probably could have offered a little more going forward, but the usual LJS type of game.
Hwang Hee Chan 7/10: Had his moments, and also had some rough touches. Should have had an assist early on but was selfish with the ball. With that being said, still clearly our second best offensive player today.
Lee Kang In 8/10: Created most of our big chances with his individual skill. I almost thought I was watching a Mallorca match for a second. Needed some help, but really did all he could and stood out offensively. It’s crazy to think but this is basically his standard going forward and we shouldn’t expect anything less. Kid’s a superstar in the making.
Oh Hyeon Gyu 4/10: He looked pressed, like he was rushing and trying too hard to score. Flubbed a great through ball from Kang In, and also had a really rough 1st touch on another great ball from Hee Chan. A pretty disappointing outing for the kid if you ask me.
Subs:
Hong Hyun Seok 5/10: Looked composed. Didn’t impact the game much, but you can see the confidence in his own ability. Looked calm on his debut for the national team.
Cho Gue Sung 6/10: Impacted the game a lot more than Oh did during his time on the pitch. Had 2–3 really good chances in the air but couldn’t put one away. Should have had at least 1 goal to his name today.
Park Yong Woo 6/10: Very Son Jun Ho-ish performance. He seems really smooth and confident with the ball and initiated some offense compared to Won Du Jae.
Park Kyu Hyun/Na Sang Ho/Hwang Ui Jo N/A: Came on too late in the match to warrant a rating.
What do you think of Paul’s ratings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Yesterday, our U24 squad continued their preparations for September’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. A reminder that Korea will be seeking their third consecutive Gold Medal in Asian Games football, which will guarantee another squad the coveted military exemption. They secured a 3-1 win and Coupang Play once again provided a nice highlights package from the match :
Unfortunately, Um Wonsang picked up an injury after scoring his brace of goals. Um has had a frustrating time with injuries in the past few seasons and yesterday’s match with China provided plenty of harsh tackles. After a collision with Gao Tin-ai in the 65th minute, Um was forced off with what could be a ankle ligament injury. Hopefully, manager Hwang Sunhong is right that it’s not a serious injury, since Um has been a solid performer for the U24 squad recently. Fingers crossed he can return to fitness before the September Asian Games. The U24s will face China again on June 19, with the kickoff at 7:35 AM EST.