It’s no exaggeration to say that finding a center back combination is the biggest topic of conversation for Klinsmann’s team as they prepare for their two A-match series in June.
The South Korean national team has been using the center back duo of Kim Min-jae (Napoli) and Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan) at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
A center back combination is usually a combination of right and left footers. This is because a left-footed center back is more comfortable on the left side of the center back combination. The same goes for right-footed center backs.
Since the days of Paulo Bento, the combination of Kim Min-jae and Kim Young-kwon or Kim Min-jae and Kwon Kyung-won (Portimonense) has been the center of the national team’s defense.
Jürgen Klinsmann’s tenure was no exception, with Kim Min-jae and Kim Young-kwon playing in the center of the defense for the two A-Match matches in March.
But when Kim was called up for military training and Kim Young-kwon was injured with a muscle injury in the back of his thigh, Klinsmann was faced with a difficult choice of central defense.
For now, Klinsmann opted for Park Ji-soo, Kim Joo-sung (Seoul) and Kwon Kyung-won (Gamba Osaka).
Park Ji-soo (14 A-League matches) and Kwon Kyung-won (30 A-League matches) are frequently called up to the national team and are experienced defenders, so the idea was that they would be able to lead Kim Joo-sung, who has only one A-League match under her belt.
However, on the day of the 12th call-up, Klinsmann made a surprise announcement to supplement the defense.
The coaching staff was informed that Kwon Kyung-won had injured ankle ligaments during a J-League match in Japan last weekend,먹튀검증 and Klinsmann called up Jung Seung-hyun (Ulsan) and Park Kyu-hyun (Dynamo Dresden) in his place.
Seung-hyun Jung has played 11 A matches, while this was Park’s first call-up to the A team. Park has been a resource for the U-23 national team under Hwang Sun-hong, but was called up to the A team at the request of Klinsmann.
As a result, Park Ji-soo, Kim Joo-sung, Jeong Seung-hyun, and Park Kyu-hyun will be the four central defenders for the matches against Peru on Sept. 16 (8 p.m., Busan Asiad Stadium) and El Salvador on Sept. 20 (8 p.m., Daejeon World Cup Stadium).
Kim Joo-sung and Park Kyu-hyun are left-footed, while Park Ji-soo and Jung Seung-hyun are right-footed.
This is where Klinsmann’s problems began again, as the left-footed Kim Joo-sung and Park Kyu-hyun have virtually no A-match experience, making them difficult to select as starters.
Klinsmann began testing central defense combinations in the first training session on the 12th, and his first choice was the Park Ji-soo-Park Kyu-hyun combination.
In the tactical drills, Klinsmann adjusted his attacking options with Hong Hyun-seok (Gent) and Hwang In-beom (Olympiacos) in the center, Moon Sun-min (Jeonbuk) and Lee Kang-in (Mallorca) on the left wing, and Oh Hyun-gyu (Celtic) and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) up top.
The team repeated the drill of passing from the midfield to the flanks and then feeding the ball to the front two, while the Park Ji-soo-Park Kyu-hyun combination played the role of counterattacking.
As Park Ji-soo is an experienced defender, Klinsmann is expected to give Kim Joo-sung and Park Kyu-hyun “endless competition” for Park Ji-soo’s partner before the Peru game.
For Park Ji-soo and Park Kyu-hyun, the national team’s “next generation of defensive resources,” the two June A matches were a good opportunity to develop into “mature defenders.