Former Korean national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann finally opened his mouth. How did Klinsmann, who belatedly mentioned the “table tennis gate” between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in that ended in a happening, see the gate.
Coach Klinsmann recalled his work with the Korean national team on the 22nd (local time) during an appearance on the Austrian Serbus TV sports talk show.
“A young player (Lee Kang-in) made rude remarks to an older player (Son Heung-min). The other two fought, keeping that in mind. Lee Kang-in dislocated Son’s finger,” Klinsmann said, referring to the table tennis gate. “Some people intervened and stopped him. We talked the next day as well, but everyone was shocked and we felt that at that moment we were no longer together.”
Finally, as a coach, Klinsmann saw the two players fight in person and had a conversation the next day, but felt that he could not form a “one team.” Still, he used Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in at the same time, which resulted in a defeat in the semi-final match against Jordan.
“In Korean culture, I learned that the older side is always right even if it is wrong,” Klinsmann said, defending against his dismissal, even though he had achieved Korea’s best performance in the Asian Cup over the past 15 years. “In Korean culture, someone had to take responsibility. It was the coach’s turn because the players had to participate in the next competition.” 핑크알바
Klinsmann is the head coach of the Korean national team for less than a year and has achieved the semifinals of the Asian Cup, but was dismissed from the Korean national team in February as he was criticized for his poor performance as a “golden generation” as well as not being able to handle the rare “table tennis gate” at all.