Jin-Su Kim: "My rhythm and tempo are still lacking"

Hello Jin-Su. You were back on the pitch in Munich after a few weeks out. How did that feel?

Jin-Su Kim: Good. It was nice to come on and play, even if it was only for five minutes. The most important thing was that I haven't had any more trouble with the injury and didn't feel anything after the game.

How far away from your best are you after your time on the sidelines?

Kim: My rhythm and tempo are still lacking. I'm also not quite where I'd like to be physically. But training and the next few games will hopefully help me get back to my best quickly. I'm analysing videos and I'm working hard on the training pitch and in the gym. I also try to do some autogenic training in the evenings so that I can adapt to playing again as soon as possible.

Looking back at the Asian Games, how significant was the victory?

Kim: The Asian Games are very important in South Korea. They come just behind the Olympics in terms of significance back home and therefore public interest is huge. Our victory certainly captured the interest of the masses.

You said in your interview that you want to answer questions in German after a year. How is that going?

Kim: (He laughs). German is harder than I thought but I am learning and I'm making progress. The football terminology is going quite well. I learn vocabulary every night. I hope that it pays off in the interviews, but there's still a long way to go.

You live in Heidelberg at the moment. Is everything going ok?

Kim: Heidelberg is a very quiet city. I'm always at the castle or walking through the old part of the city, which is very nice and quite romantic.

Are there any similarities to Japan or South Korea?

Kim: No, it's all pretty different. The cities are different, and so are the houses, the people and the landscape. The mountains in Japan and South Korea are a lot higher than here. Even the colours in nature are different.

Match facts and statistics »