South Korea have called up several new names for the upcoming training camp after coach Uli Stielike said that he was looking for more hungry players. Out of the 28 players who have been called up by the German coach, 13 of them have been playing regularly in the domestic leagues.
They have been waiting for a chance to show their qualities and, according to Stielike,this makes them extremely hungry as far as the national team is concerned. South Korea have so far enjoyed an inconsistent run in the friendly matches after the World Cup.
South Korea have called up several new names for the upcoming training camp after coach Uli Stielike said that he was looking for more hungry players. Out of the 28 players who have been called up by the German coach, 13 of them have been playing regularly in the domestic leagues.
They have been waiting for a chance to show their qualities and, according to Stielike,this makes them extremely hungry as far as the national team is concerned. South Korea have so far enjoyed an inconsistent run in the friendly matches after the World Cup.
While they have enjoyed victories over the likes of Saudi Arabia and Paraguay, defeat against Costa Rica and Iran will be worrying for the team ahead of the Asian Cup.
Korea’s first match in the tournament takes place on January 10 against Oman followed by matches against Kuwait and Australia. Australia and Korea are the favourites to progress from the group stage.Stielike has stated that some players are named into the squad after having had a good look in person. One them is Lee Jung-hyub, who plays for Sangju Sangmu. Stielike says that even though Jung-hyub has not been putting a lot of minutes for the club, his attributes like movement impressed him a lot.
“I needed passionate players who are ‘hungry’ (for game). I called up players based on their performances at clubs. … There are two goals for the training at Jeju. First is for keeping players staying in shape and second is for long-term plan to have more players having potentials in team to prepare for the East Asian Cup. The reason I prefer 2-1 victory over 1-0 is that implies we have won the game after covering teammates’ mistakes. I speak of this because there is harsh criticism over some players like Park or Jung after the World Cup,” said Stielike.