First full training session for World Cup qualifiers…starts with Klinsmann’s ‘one-liner’
The national soccer team kicked off the start of its qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America with a “workplace speech” by head coach Jürgen Klinsmann (GER).
The national soccer team, led by Klinsmann, held its second day of training at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul on Thursday.
On the first day, the national team held outdoor training with only 11 players, including Son Heung-min (Tottenham) and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), participating, but on this day, all players completed the call-up, and 23 players came out to train. Even Oh Hyun-gyu (Celtic), who arrived in South Korea earlier in the day, joined the team.
Unlike the previous day, when the temperature dropped below 6 degrees and the wind kept the players huddled together, the temperature rose to around 10 degrees and the sun shone, allowing the players to train in more comfortable conditions.
The players were in good spirits as they arrived on the field and warmed up with some lifting, before gathering in a circle for a lengthy speech by Coach Klinsmann.
It was an unusual pre-session speech that lasted nearly 15 minutes, albeit with an interpreter.
The team had scheduled the first 30 minutes of the day’s practice to be open to the media, with only about 10 minutes remaining after Klinsmann’s speech.
According to a team official, Klinsmann talked about various things about training and life, as well as some motivational words for the first training session with all the players.
He also told them to call their families in the region as the journey to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in Qatar next January-February will be a long one.
At a press conference the day before, Klinsmann said, “I always tell the players at mealtime in the training camp that they can go out to see their families or lovers if they need to. We don’t manage them like youth. We are trying to instill a sense of ownership.”
Since then, the team has been working on their conditioning in open training sessions with physical coach Werner Reutard.
The team will hold an official training session at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 15th, before taking on Singapore on the 16th at 8 p.m. in the first match of Group C of the North and Central American World Cup Second Qualifying Round in Asia, followed by an away match against China on the 21st. 토토사이트