Veteran tactician and football legend Jurgen Klinsmann knows a thing or two about winning the big tournaments. A World Cup winner with Germany in 1990, Klinsmann on Thursday issued a rallying cry to his seemingly fatigued South Korea players ahead of their quarter-final against Australia at the AFC Asian Cup 2023 on Friday.
Playing at Al Janoub Stadium just two days after their physically draining Round of 16 clash – that went into penalties – against Saudi Arabia, South Korea on Friday take on Graham Arnold-coached Australia who have enjoyed four days of rest since beating Indonesia at the 24-team tournament.
“Rest days is what it is, you accept it, you move on,” Klinsmann, 59, said on Thursday at a pre-match news conference. “We’re ready for this huge game and we’re very hungry,” the California-based German added.
Klinsmann, who was the US men’s team coach for five years after managing Germany for three seasons, on Thursday urged his players to accept the big stage opportunity. “I want them to experience what it would mean to get to the end of a tournament, all the way to the end and to play for the trophy,” Klinsmann, who is fluent in English, Italian and French, said. “So that’s what I tried to tell them, that they utilise this moment in time, they understand this moment in time.
“Now it gets down to the grinding phase. Now it’s the big stage. I love this moment. I personally love this moment and I hope they enjoy that too, that they love that too. And then the better team will win and it will be another nail biter against the Socceroos,” the former Bayern Munich coach said.
“They’re a good team. We respect them a lot but we believe in ourselves too. So hopefully it works out, but I really hope that they understand this is a special moment in their career.”
Klinsmann, a certified commercial helicopter pilot, on Thursday said title winning teams can’t whine about not having enough rest.
“We want to go through and if you want to go through the knockout stage in a major tournament you have to suffer. That’s normal. The players play this way in their club teams. Many play in Europe every three or four days. No problem,” Klinsmann said.
Despite their historic 2015 Asian Cup victory over South Korea, Socceroos coach Arnold isn’t dwelling on past glories. Instead, his laser focus lies solely on his team’s preparations for their encounter on Friday.
He acknowledges the quality of the Taeguk Warriors, but his primary concern is ensuring his own side is firing on all cylinders for this crucial competition.
This match marks the first clash between the two nations since their infamous Asian Cup showdown, adding another layer of intrigue to the highly anticipated game.
“We’re up against a top opponent and we have got to go out and believe in ourselves,” Sydney-born Arnold said on Thursday. “We’ve got that belief and my expectations are always the same, we go out on the pitch to win,” the 60-year-old added. “It’s full focus on ourselves. They’ve got a strong squad, but it’s about what we do, if we get our game right. We know their strengths and we’ll deal with them the best way we can. It’s about getting our game right.”
“I believe that the most important thing for us is with the ball defensively. We’ll be well set up. We’ve conceded only one goal so far and they’ve conceded seven, but we’ve got to make sure with the ball we’re better tomorrow.
“Our intention is to be in their faces for 90 minutes and put pressure on them. One of their strengths is technique and we want to take away that technique and one of the ways to do that is by pressuring them,” Arnold said.
This will be the fourth time that the two World Cup sides will meet in AFC Asian Cup history.