The South Korean national soccer team, led by Jürgen Klinsmann, has set the anchor for the first leg of its journey to the upcoming World Cup. Aiming for an 11th consecutive appearance.
Jürgen Klinsmann’s South Korea national football team (FIFA Ranking 24) will take on Singapore (FIFA Ranking 155) on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in the first match of Group C of the second Asian qualifying round for the FIFA Confederations Cup North America 2026 (USA-Mexico-Canada).
The Klinsmanns are drawn in Group C with Singapore, China and Thailand. They will open the tournament at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Nov. 16 before traveling to China on Nov. 21. World Cup qualifying resumes in March 2024 with matches against Thailand (home and away), Singapore in June and China at home.
The first opponent, Singapore, advanced to the second round of World Cup qualifying in dramatic fashion. They swept the first and second leg against Guam in October, winning by a combined score of 3-1 to punch their ticket to the second round. Singapore is a Southeast Asian powerhouse, having reached the third round of World Cup qualifying in 2010, and will be looking to build on that momentum against South Korea.
Klinsmann, who was appointed in March, has come under fire for repeatedly failing to get his first win, including a controversy over his residency in South Korea. Starting with his debut against Colombia (2-2 draw), Klinsmann has failed to win against Uruguay (1-2 loss), Peru (0-1 loss), El Salvador (1-1 draw), and Wales (0-0 draw).
Fortunately, the team turned things around in September with its first win against Saudi Arabia (1-0), followed by victories over Tunisia (4-0) and Vietnam (6-0). This November’s A-Match will be the time to show both organization and results.
This is the last A-Match before the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar. Of course, you can play one or two friendlies before the Asian Cup. However, it’s not possible to play a full squad due to the lack of international players. 토토사이트
Klinsmann has been aiming to win the Asian Cup since his appointment. In his introductory press conference in March, Klinsmann said, “Korea is a good team that has beaten Portugal and Germany at the World Cup. The goal is to win the Asian Cup.”
The goal hasn’t changed. At a media conference on the 13th, Klinsmann said, “You will expect a strong Asian Cup performance. The goal is clear. It’s to win. Japan, Australia, the Middle East, there are a lot of good teams. It will help us internally to have a clear goal of winning,” he said, reiterating the importance of this.