Klinsmann takes new-look team in pursuit of 1st win as Korea head coach

Players on the Korean men's national football team train for a friendly match against Peru at Gudeok Stadium in the southeastern city of Busan, June 13. Yonhap

Jurgen Klinsmann will be hoping the third time will be the charm, as he takes his third crack at winning his first match as head coach of the Korean men’s national football team this week.

Korea, ranked 27th, will host 21st-ranked Peru at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in the southeastern city of Busan at 8 p.m. Friday.

It will be the first of two friendlies for Korea this month, as they will face El Salvador in Daejeon, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, next Tuesday.

In Klinsmann’s first two matches at the helm, Korea played Colombia to a 2-2 draw on March 24 and then lost to Uruguay 2-1 four days later.

Klinsmann has said he was still pleased with the performances in those two matches and he wants to see more of the same this time ― with different results.

“We want to build on the excitement we had in the first two games against Colombia and Uruguay,” he said at the start of training camp in Busan on 커뮤니티 Monday. “And obviously, we want to win the games, too.” Klinsmann will have a much different defense corps than March, with his two top center backs missing.

Napoli star Kim Min-jae, recently named the best defender of the 2022-23 Serie A season, will report for his mandatory military training later this month after earning service exemption by winning the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. His longtime center back partner, Kim Young-gwon of Ulsan Hyundai FC, has been sidelined with a right quad injury.

Klinsmann chose Portimonense defender Park Ji-su as one of his center backs. Another veteran, Kwon Kyung-won of Gamba Osaka, was initially selected last week and was expected to team up with Park, but Kwon was dropped from the national team Monday after suffering an injury in Japan.

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