On the night of February 6, the Korean team faced Jordan in the first semi-final of the 2023 Asian Cup. Although rated higher than the opponent, Son Heung-min and his teammates played below the strength and were overwhelmed by the opponent at many times, before receiving 2 goals from Yazan Al-Naimat and Al-Taamari, thereby being eliminated from this year's tournament.
After the match, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) homepage had some notable statistics about the match. Accordingly, the Korean team had to go through difficult minutes of competition against the West Asian team.
Although controlling the ball up to 69.6%, surpassing the opponent's 30.4%, the Korean strikers had a number of completely poor shots (8 compared to 17).
Even Jurgen Klinsmann's players have failed to make a single shot on target, while Jordan has seven.
In fact, at the 2023 Asian Cup, the Korean team entered the semi-finals with unconvincing performances and relied on the shining moments of stars like Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in.
Therefore, when these two players were closely marked in the match against Jordan, coach Jurgen Klinsmann's team could not create dangerous opportunities towards the opponent's goal.
At the post-match press conference, South Korean reporters expressed dissatisfaction with coach Jurgen Klinsmann and questioned whether the German strategist would resign at this time. In response, the 59-year-old strategist affirmed that he did not.
"Jordan deserved to win. Looking at the fighting spirit and the form they have shown, they deserved to advance to the final. The Korean players were underperforming in this match. I was very disappointed.
Before the match, I asked the players to take the initiative from the beginning and dominate the game, not to lose in one-on-one situations. Things became difficult when the team conceded. After that, the team could not take advantage of the opportunity, while Jordan had a great performance," said Mr. Jurgen Klinsmann.
Meanwhile, striker Son Heung-min has apologized to fans after the defeat, and affirmed that he and his teammates will practice hard to prepare for the next tournaments.
