Klinsmann praises S. Korea response in last-gasp Asian Cup draw

DOHA — Jurgen Klinsmann praised his players’ response after South Korea avoided a major Asian Cup upset by the skin of their teeth in a 2-2 draw with Jordan on Saturday.

One day after Iraq beat tournament favourites Japan, the Koreans needed an injury-time own goal to salvage a point in Doha after Jordan had roared back from an early Son Heung-min penalty.

Klinsmann said the Group E encounter had been “very good to experience” as he targets South Korea’s first Asian Cup triumph in 64 years.

“We expected a difficult game and we got a difficult game,” said the German World Cup winner, with qualification for the last 16 still well within grasp not yet secured.

“After the leading goal we took the tempo out of the game, which was not very good, and we lost a lot of one-on-one battles.

“Those are the games that you learn a lot from.”

Son fired South Korea in front from the spot in the ninth minute but a Park Yong-woo own goal and a Yazan Al Naimat strike put Jordan ahead at half-time.

South Korea did not look like scoring for much of the second half but grabbed an equaliser when Yazan Al Arab deflected Hwang In-beom’s shot into his own net in the first minute of injury time at the end of the game.

A win for either team would have sent them through to the knockout rounds with a game to spare.

Klinsmann’s side beat Bahrain 3-1 in its opening match and face Malaysia in their final group game on Thursday.

“It’s important to see that when things don’t work out how the players react,” said Klinsmann.

“That was what I was really pleased with.”

Skipper Son dismissed the idea that the pressure of trying to win the Asian title after so long had got to him and his team-mates.

“There’s always pressure when you play for Spurs or the national team because everybody’s watching you,” the Tottenham attacker told beIN Sports.

“I always deal well with the pressure, I love the pressure.”

‘Beautiful goal’ 

Jordan, which beat Malaysia 4-0 and faces Bahrain next, is still also in a strong position to reach the last 16.

But coach Hussein Ammouta was disappointed not to claim a famous win.

“It’s normal to make mistakes at the start and end of the match because you’re talking about an excellent attacking team,” he said.

“What was important was that we played on a par with them. We spared no effort to try and preserve the result.”

Klinsmann was forced into one change from the opening game, bringing in goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo for Kim Seung-gyu.

Kim suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a training session and has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament.

Son tucked away his penalty after a VAR check ruled he had been fouled in the area and celebrated by holding up a goalkeeper’s shirt with Kim’s name on it.

Jordan began to threaten and equalised in the 37th minute when Park bundled the ball into his own net under pressure from Arab at the back post.

Naimat then lashed Jordan into a shock lead in the sixth minute of first-half injury time, drilling a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Naimat was disappointed it did not turn out to be the winner.

“Any player in our team or on our bench can score a beautiful goal,” he said.

“Beautiful or not beautiful, it doesn’t matter. The most important thing is to win the game.”