Kim Young-kwang, a former national soccer goalkeeper, criticized coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s qualities in relation to the growing discord within the national soccer team centered on the conflict between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in.
Kim Young-kwang said, “It’s cowardly, because of the discord between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in,” when Klinsmann, who appeared on the YouTube channel “Maebul Show” and participated in the meeting of the Korea Football Association’s national power reinforcement committee on the 15th, said, “It’s cowardly. He should not be a leader beyond cowardice.”
“I am not saying that we fought well. We all have different ideas and have different personalities. They are the ace players in each team and are in the spotlight. If these players unite and live a long life, conflicts will definitely arise,” he said. “Why would we call a leader a teacher?” he criticized Klinsmann’s leadership again, saying, “They should impose sanctions and set rules to prevent conflicts from occurring as much as possible.”
“It is common to play table tennis. Professional teams also have table tennis and billiards tables. Instead of going to a room right after eating, you should digest food, talk to each other, and get acquainted,” he said. “It would be nice, but if the coach had set a small rule that they would wake up at the same time and eat together, it would not have grown to this point.”
Meanwhile, the conflict within the national team was known through a report by the British media ‘The Sun’ on the 14th (Korea time).
“I had an argument with my teammate a day before Son was eliminated from the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup,” the Sun said. “In the process, he suffered a dislocated finger.”
After the report, the Korea Football Association explained that there was a conflict between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in, and there was friction in the process of Son Heung-min stopping young players including Lee Kang-in when he said he wanted to play table tennis the day before the semifinal against Jordan.
As the controversy grew, Lee Kang-in wrote on his social networking service (SNS), “I should have followed my brothers well, but I’m sorry for showing bad performances to soccer fans.”