[SPOTV News = Reporter Park Dae-seong] Director Jurgen Klinsmann begins a great voyage. The first opponent to bring home the Asian Cup trophy after 64 years is Bahrain.

Korea will play the first leg of the Group E group stage of the '2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup' at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Qatar at 8:30 pm (Korean time) on the 15th. As we aim to win this time, we need to get off to a good start in the first match against Bahrain.

In terms of objective power, Korea is overwhelming. Korea's team is led by Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), the second Korean captain in history in the Premier League and the first Asian to win the Golden Boot in one of Europe's top five leagues, as well as Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Cho Kyu-sung (Midt Willan), and Hwang In-beom. (Crvena Zvezda), Jae-seong Lee (Mainz), etc.

If the center of gravity seems to be leaning forward, attention is drawn to the rear. There is a ‘monster’ Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) who reliably protects the Korean back four in the central defense position. Kim Min-jae played a leading role in Napoli's first win in 33 years in the 2022-23 season, and joined Bayern Munich, a team competing to win the UEFA Champions League this summer, and showed a top-class presence by sweeping the Bundesliga's official first half best and Ballon d'Or finalists.

Coach Klinsmann took over as coach of the national team last February, replacing coach Paulo Bento. In March, evaluation matches were held mainly for players who participated in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, but the Asian Cup sketch was drawn in earnest from June. There was controversy over the coaching staff, including coach Klinsmann, working from home, and criticism as they failed to win in five games after taking office, but they recorded six consecutive wins (seven clean sheets in a row) starting with the game against Saudi Abaria on September 12.

They also have an advantage in their record against Bahrain. Starting with a friendly away to Bahrain in February 1977, the team lasted 16 games, with the only loss coming in 2007. At the time, Kim Doo-hyun scored in the Asian Cup held in Jakarta, Indonesia, but allowed two goals to Bahrain and suffered a shocking loss in the Group D stage.

Of course, Korea won points over Indonesia (1-0 win) and Saudi Arabia (1-1 draw) and advanced to the knockout stage in second place in Group D. They passed Iran in the quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals, but failed to advance to the finals as they bowed out after a close penalty shootout match with Iraq.

There is also a difference in the FIFA rankings, with Korea ranked 23rd and Bahrain ranked 86th. Although Bahrain has Abdullah Yusuf (Mlada Boleslav-Czech Republic) and quick-footed winger Kamil Al Aswad, the gap between them and the Korean national team is quite large.

Bahrain used a 4-1-4-1 formation against Australia, a favorite for the championship, in an evaluation match just before the Asian Cup. They are quite aggressive, but when switching to defense, they only have one attacker and the gap is extremely narrow. After setting up a dense defense in front of the box, there is a high possibility of hitting Korea's rear area with a counter attack.

Coach Klinsmann also plans to exclude objective differences in power and focus on victory. At the press conference ahead of the Bahrain game, he emphasized, “Especially the first game is the most important,” and added, “I don’t think there is a weak team. All teams in the Asian Cup are strong. I think the game against Bahrain will be a difficult game. “If Bahrain takes a defensive form, we have to respect that and find a solution,” he said.

Korea-Bahrain historical record (16 games: 11 wins, 4 draws, 1 loss)
2011-01-10 Asian Cup final, 2-1 win, scorer Koo Ja-cheol (2 goals)
2009-02-04 Friendly match, 2-2 draw, scorers Kim Jeong-woo, Lee Geun-ho
2007-07-15 Asian Cup final, loss 1-2, scorer Doo-Hyun Kim
2004-07-10 Friendly match, 2-0 win, scorers Lee Dong-guk, Choi Jin-cheol
1993-06-13 FIFA US World Cup 1st qualifying round, 3-0 win, scorers Kang Cheol, Park Nam-yeol, Koo Sang-beom
1993-05-09 FIFA USA World Cup 1st qualifying round, 0-0 draw
1986-09-24 Asian Games finals, 0-0 draw
1985-06-08 President's Cup International Soccer Tournament, 3-0 win, scorers Choi Soon-ho (2 goals), Lee Tae-ho
1984-04-19 LA Olympics final qualifying round, 1-0 win, scorer Choi Soon-ho
1982-06-11 President’s Cup International Soccer Tournament, 3-0 win, scorers Tae-ho Lee (2 goals), Soon-ho Choi
1979-09-14 President Park Cup international soccer tournament, 5-1 win, scorers Park Seong-hwa, Lee Young-moo (2 goals), Lee Jang-su, Lee Jeong-il
1978-12-11 Bangkok Asian Games, 5-1 win, scorers Cho Gwang-rae (2 goals), Cha Bum-geun, Oh Seok-jae (2 goals)
1978-09-13 International soccer competition for the President Park Cup, 3-1 win, scorers Heo Jeong-moo, Lee Young-moo, Kim Seong-nam
1977-02-20 Friendly match, 1-1 draw, scorer Heo Jeong-moo
1977-02-18 Friendly match, 4-1 win, scorers Heo Jung-moo (2 goals), Cha Bum-geun, Cho Young-jeung