A much-needed first win, but no fireworks.

Jürgen Klinsmann’s (GER) national soccer team won a 1-0 friendly against Saudi Arabia at St. James’ Park in Newcastle, England, on Sept. 13.

Perhaps the focus was on the result, but the substance was far below expectations. We didn’t capitalize on many chances, and in fact, we almost hurt ourselves with unnecessary misses. Still, there were bright spots. The performance of the healthy ‘Bull’ and ‘Korean Monster’ was still strong.

Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), who can play every position in the second line as well as up front, tormented the Saudi defense with his straight, sharp movements down the left flank. A recurrence of a hamstring injury at the end of last month, just before his call-up to the national team, caused some concern, but he returned safely and was fully fit.

Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), who made a surprise announcement after the two March A matches against Colombia and Uruguay that he wanted to “commit to the team for the time being” and skipped the June call-up for basic military training, also showed his ‘Ballon d’Or finalist’ qualities. He used his quick feet to carve out empty spaces, overpowering deliveries and aggressive hustle play to wear down the opposition. One of the highlights of the game was when he threw his whole body to block a ball into the box during an all-out attack late in the second half. At the same time, the offensive buildup satisfied the national team coaching staff.바카라사이트

Hwang In-beom (Tsubena Zbezda), the “maestro” who coordinates the national team’s offense and defense, didn’t play badly, even though he didn’t have a full preseason due to a rather noisy transfer process. As the hub of the ball distribution, it was difficult to avoid intense scrutiny, but he did his job relatively well. Cho Kyu-sung’s first goal also came from a penetrating pass from Lee Jae-sung (Mainz) to Son Heung-min (Tottenham), who then slotted home a pass from Hwang In-beom.

While there were still question marks over Klinsmann’s tactical game plan, the trio of front, back, and center backs did enough to put an exclamation point on it.