Jurgen Klinsmann Admits Jordan Deserves To Win Against South Korea In The 2023 Asian Cup Semifinals

Jurgen Klinsmann said Jordan deserved to win in the semifinals of the 2023 Asian Cup against South Korea (doc. AFC).

JAKARTA - South Korean coach, Jurgen Klinsman, is very disappointed with the results of the 2023 Asian Cup semifinal match against Jordan at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

South Korea lost 0-2 through goals from Yazan Al-Naimat and Musa Al-Taamari so that they failed to advance to the 2023 Asian Cup final.

The defeat closed Taegeuk Warriors' chances of finding the first Asian Cup title since he last won it in the 1960s edition.

Klinsmann said Jordan deserved to win in that match.

"Disappointed because we have a big target of reaching the final, but Jordan deserves this victory. They deserve to advance to the final. They play more aggressively than us."

"I told the team about the fight we had to win, but Jordan won almost all the fights in the first half. When you conceded, almost always made a mistake."

"I was very disappointed and I was very angry because we should have performed better. Our talk before the game was that we had to win our fight. However, we had almost no chance (of) in the first 30-35 minutes. Jordan wanted it (to the final) and they showed it," Klinsmann said on the AFC website.

In fact, Taegeuk Warriors packed nearly 70 percent of possession, but Son Heung-min and his teammates were unable to trouble Yazeed Abulaila's goal. In fact, not a single shot was shot on target.

South Korea did appear less convincing from the group stage to the quarter-finals. Four of the five matches before their semifinals were in a precarious position.

Son Heung-min and colleagues only won five points in the group round. After a convincing win against Bahrain 3-1, they struggled. The Klinsmann squad then drew against Jordan 2-2 and Malaysia 3-3.

Qualifying as group runners-up, their performance in the last 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup has also not improved. They almost lost against Saudi Arabia before Cho Gue-sung scored in second-half injury time.

Luckily, South Korea was able to win the 4-2 penalty shootout after the 1-1 score lasted until extra time.

Their move in the quarter-finals was not smooth again. Again, South Korea almost died against Australia if there were no equaliser goals from Hwang Hee-chan in the second half injury time.

Luck saved Taegeuk Warriors again. Son Heung-min scored in extra time as well as closed a 2-1 win.

The match against Jordan further assured that South Korea was having problems with their performance. Jordan could expose the weaknesses of Klinsmann's team.

No wonder Klinsmann praised that Jordan deserved to win in the semifinals of the 2023 Asian Cup.