As the ‘Clean Sweepers’ look for a suitable sparring partner ahead of the Asian Cup qualifiers, the Korea Football Association (KFA) is in talks with the Iraqi national team about a friendly match.
“The Korean national team and the Iraqi national team will play a friendly match in January 2024 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE),” Iraqi media outlet Sharq reported on Friday.
“It will be the final test match between the two countries before the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup,” the media outlet reported.
However, the Korean Football Association (KFA) had a different explanation.
“We are in talks with Iraq to play an exhibition match in January ahead of the Asian Cup. However, nothing has been finalized yet,” the KFA said, contradicting Iraqi media outlets that reported the venue.바카라
South Korea national soccer team coach Jürgen Klinsmann has consistently talked about winning the Asian Cup as his first goal since his appointment in March.
South Korea will attempt to win the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar in January 2024, their first title in 63 years since 1960. Iraq could be a good test for South Korea as they will face Middle Eastern nations such as Bahrain and Jordan in the group stage of the Asian Cup.
“Our goal is the Asian Cup,” said Klinsmann, who returned home from Incheon International Airport on Thursday, “and we have a lot of confidence and expectations that we will have a good result.” He also expressed confidence that the team can win the Asian Cup.
“We start training in November. It’s the most important time. We have eight A matches before then. There will be many things that we will not be satisfied with during that period, but at the end of the day, we will have the best squad and do well at the Asian Cup.”