National Football Team head coach Jürgen Klinsmann will travel to Singapore in November to prepare for the 2026 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup North America qualifiers.
“Klinsmann will be on hand to watch the 텍사스홀덤 2023-24 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Group F match between Jeonbuk Hyundai and Ryan City Sailors (Singapore) on Nov. 8 at the Jalandhar Stadium in Bishan, Singapore,” a national team official said on Saturday.
Klinsmann is flying to Singapore instead of Europe to prepare for the 2026 North American World Cup second round qualifiers, which begin in November, and the Asian Cup, which kicks off next January in Qatar.
“Klinsmann was the head of the Technical Study Group (TSG) at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and was exposed to soccer from teams around the world. However, Southeast Asian teams did not qualify for the World Cup at that time, so Klinsmann is not familiar with the characteristics of teams in the region.”
“Coach Klinsmann is very curious about Southeast Asian soccer, and upon his return from the U.S. on March 3, he traveled to the Incheon Football Stadium to watch a match between Incheon United and Kaya FC (Philippines) to get a feel for what Southeast Asian soccer is all about.”
South Korea was drawn with China, Thailand and the winner of Singapore-Guam in the second round of World Cup qualifying. With Singapore’s 2-1 win over Guam in the first round of qualifying, South Korea will likely play Thailand and Singapore in the World Cup. The second leg of the first qualifier between Singapore and Guam will take place on July 17.
At the Asian Cup, South Korea was drawn in Group E with Jordan, Bahrain, and Southeast Asia’s Malaysia.
In addition to watching the Southeast Asian teams, Klinsmann plans to adapt by playing them head-to-head.
To that end, he has selected Vietnam for an October exhibition match, which will take place at 8 p.m. on Nov. 17 at Suwon World Cup Stadium.
Vietnam is ranked 95th in the FIFA rankings, which makes them an objective underdog compared to South Korea, which is ranked 26th. Fans who had hoped for an A match against a European or South American powerhouse have expressed doubts about this trial.
In response, a representative of the national team said, “We pushed for an evaluation match with Southeast Asia before the second round of World Cup qualifiers. Coach Klinsmann has always wanted to play a Southeast Asian team, a team that plays defensively, and we received requests from many teams, but we chose Vietnam.”
“I watched and analyzed Vietnam’s game, and I don’t think they are weak at all. They are a team that can compete in the Asian Cup tournament or the third qualifying round of the World Cup,” said Klinsmann, who emphasized the importance of the trial by saying, “This will give us a chance to see how we need to prepare against Asian teams.”