South Korea

Jürgen Klinsmann looking for first win as coach of South Korea national team

Published Jun. 20, 2023 3:19 p.m. ET

Jürgen Klinsmann is still looking for his first win as coach of South Korea’s national soccer team after a late goal gave El Salvador a 1-1 draw on Tuesday.

The former United States coach was appointed in February. Despite four games on home soil, South Korea has lost to Peru and Uruguay and drawn against Colombia and now El Salvador.

"It’s disappointing that we couldn’t get the result," said Klinsmann, a former Germany great who also coached his country’s national team. "We had opportunities to score more than four goals but couldn’t capitalize on them."

South Korea’s last victory came at the World Cup, when the team beat Portugal in the group stage in Qatar.

With Son Heung-min still recovering from a hernia operation, Hwang Ui-jo scored for South Korea early in the first half in Daejeon. Alexander Roldan, who plays for the Seattle Sounders, scored a late equalizer by heading in a free kick.

El Salvador lost to Japan 6-0 last week. South Korea is preparing for the Asian Cup, which starts in January.

"I also have memories of not scoring during my playing career and it can be very frustrating," Klinsmann said. "The only thing we can do is to work hard on the training ground. … We will regroup in September."

In Osaka, Kaoru Mitoma scored one and set up another in Japan’s 4-1 victory over Peru.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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