The 58-year-old, who last worked as a head coach three years ago during a brief spell with Hertha Berlin, believes his team have performed well despite their results.

 

“I hope I can correct that as quickly as possible because we absolutely believe we should have won all four games,” Klinsmann said at a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. 

“Not only one or two, in all four we were the better team and played impressive football, especially when you look at the Colombian first half, if you look at the second half against Uruguay and then the two games with Peru and El Salvador. We were clearly the better team, had so many chances.

 
“But the chances didn’t go in. We have to put them in the next time and we will work on that.”

Klinsmann, who addressed the media alongside his five assistant coaches, admitted he and his team were still settling into their roles and that their focus remains on delivering success at the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2022™ in January.

“It’s a learning curve for us coaches and we’ve learned a lot in the last three months, we’ve learned a lot,” he said. “And we keep learning about the K-League, we keep learning about the military system, we keep learning about the under 24s, the under 22s, the under 20s, which we are very proud of.  We keep learning how the (Korea Football Association) works, how this federation functions. 

“At the same time we have other challenges. We have the Asian Cup, which is international. We have to think about the opponents. We’ve had scouts already watching Jordan, we’ve had scouts already watching Bahrain. It’s a wonderful project but a lot of work.”

The Koreans will travel to Qatar, where they face Malaysia, Jordan and Bahrain in Group E, attempting to win a third continental title and the first since securing the second of their back-to-back successes in 1960.

Klinsmann stressed that winning the AFC Asian Cup was a primary focus for everyone involved.

“It’s a compliment to Korean football, the last 15, 20 years how it has evolved,” he said. “I think we now have more than 15 players in Europe. It’s a process that has been going on for years. You have done well in World Cups. You deserve those compliments, but football never stops. Football moves on. There are always new challenges. Our challenges are now how can we adjust to the demand of Korean players being more in Europe."