Asia

SEOUL — A Korea Football Association (KFA) advisory committee recommended sacking head coach Jürgen Klinsmann on Thursday after their semi-final exit at the Asian Cup and amid criticism of his leadership, KFA Technical Director Hwangbo Kwan said.

The National Team Committee does not make administrative decisions, leaving it up to the KFA's Executive Board whether to act on its recommendation to fire Klinsmann, whose contract runs through the 2026 World Cup.

TW: Death

A terrifying video is circulating the internet of an Indonesian player struck by lightning during a game.

The player struck by lightning was 35-year-old Septain Raharja. On Saturday the FBI Subang player was playing in a friendly game at Siliwangi Stadium in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, when he was killed by a lightning strike.

HONG KONG — Chinese sporting authorities have canceled next month's friendly international between Argentina and Nigeria amid a growing backlash against Lionel Messi's failure to play in an Inter Miami match in Hong Kong last week.

Argentina were scheduled to play Nigeria in the Chinese city of Hangzhou next month before facing the Ivory Coast in Beijing, but Messi's failure to take the field for Inter Miami in Hong Kong on Sunday caused widespread anger among fans.

AL RAYYAN — Jordan upset South Korea 2-0 in their Asian Cup semi-final on Tuesday at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium where Yazan Al-Naimat and Musa Al-Taamari scored second-half goals to guide them into the final for the first time.

The result was a stunning upset for Jordan, who are ranked 87th in the world but played with nothing to lose against South Korea who are the third-best team in Asia, 64 places above them.

AL WAKRAH — South Korea advanced to the semifinals of the Asian Cup with a 2-1 comeback win over Australia in extra time at Al Janoub Stadium on Friday after Son Heung-min scored the winner with a sublime free kick.

With South Korea going to extra time for a second straight game after they beat Saudi Arabia on penalties, Hwang won a free kick on the edge of the box from a foul conceded by Miller once again.

Thursday’s “Last Dance” between Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami ended up being a Miami massacre as the Saudi club won 6-0, Ronaldo didn’t play and Messi only featured for 15 minutes.

The one big highlight fans are discussing is Al Nassr and former Manchester City center back Aymeric Laporte scoring a ridiculous 70-yard free kick.

DOHA — Clubs worldwide spent a record $9.63 billion on international transfers in 2023, an increase of nearly 50% compared to 2022, world soccer's governing body FIFA said in its Global Transfer Report published on Tuesday.

After transfer spending fell in 2020 and 2021 due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, outlays on players have only increased, with last year's total spend seeing an increase of 48.1% compared to 2022.

AL WAKRAH — South Korea finished second in their Asian Cup group after Malaysia held them to a 3-3 draw on Thursday with an equalizer in the 15th minute of added time which saw Bahrain finish top with a 1-0 win over Jordan.

Bahrain topped Group E with six points thanks to an Abdulla Yusuf Helal winner while South Korea finished with five points. Jordan finished third with four points and also went through as one of the best third-placed teams.