After returning to South Korea following their semifinal Asian Cup loss to Jordan, he was faced with angry fans, with someone even throwing stuff at him. The police managed to detain the culprit, but there were still many people calling him an idiot and telling him to go home. 

 

Klinsmann is under immense pressure there. They held a press conference at the airport right after the team landed back in the country. He had to explain what went wrong in the tournament and what are his next plans for the team in front of so many reporters.

 

The fans and press never liked him in South Korea, because he still lives in California since getting the job and doesn’t go to South Korea until there are games. This means he’s never present to scout players in the K-League and seems like he doesn’t care about their football development.

 

It is still hard to understand why KFA President Chung Mong-gyu chose to appoint Klinsmann last year. The Association was already going through turmoil with the match-fixing scandal, with Chung Mong-gyu also facing corruption allegations. To then appoint an unpopular candidate to lead the team caused a lot of uproar from fans who were already very unhappy.

 

Things aren’t better on the pitch either. South Korea didn’t look convincing at all in the Asian Cup and players seemed like they had to figure things out by themselves because there weren’t clear tactical instructions.

 

South Korea had arguably their best group of players in history this year— featuring likes of Tottenham’s Son Heung-min, Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae, PSG’s Lee Kang-in, Wolves’ Hwang Hee-chan, Mainz’s Lee Jae-sung, and Stuttgart’s Jeong Woo-yeong. Yet, they struggled in the group stage, drawing against Jordan and Malaysia. In the knockout stage, they needed dramatic last-minute goals to get past Saudi Arabia and Australia, before getting played off the park against Jordan-- a team that features only one player playing in Europe.

 

It hurts for the South Korean fans to see a team so strong on paper miss out on the Asian Cup once again, this time because of Klinsmann. It's hard to blame them for being angry and frustrated, and demanding better from the KFA.

 

Klinsmann annoyed the fans and the press once more by saying the team played well in the Asian Cup, and that he is going back to California next week before heading to Europe to talk to Europe-based South Korean players-- instead of staying in South Korea to watch and scout players from the K-League.

 

The German manager currently earns $2.1 million a year, and will get a huge payout if he gets sacked. It will be interesting to see what happens next.