Tag: Uli Stielike

Queiroz secret plans leaves Stielike guessing!

Uli Stielike must be scratching his head wondering which team will his counterpart Carlos Queiroz will arrange in Azadi comes Tuesday. The Portuguese coach played 3 different line ups against Qatar, China and Uzbekistan leaving the German coach wondering which game plan he shall deploy.

Queiroz last line up against Uzbekistan must have alarmed quite a few and was bordering high risk for some critics. No one bench 3 of his top players while playing against the top of the table team in away match in a World Cup qualifier! Queiroz, however, did exactly that and to put the icing on the cake, his players won and to make it taste even sweeter, they played one of their finest football in years.

For over 20 minutes in Tashkent, Team Melli was pressing the host, Uzbekistan on the other hand were running out of ideas and short of confidence. The only span of time that the host managed to threaten, but not effectively, was the early minutes of the second half.  After that, Iran regained control, Queiroz masterplan worked like a charm and his players executed it to perfection grabbing all 3 points with this sweet victory away from home.

Whatever the reasons for the constant changing line up by Queiroz (quite uncharacteristic for the ex-Real Madrid and Portugal coach) the man knew exactly what he was doing and that is confirmed by the fact that Iran is heading the table ahead of the other 5 teams.

Queiroz is no stranger to the Koreans battles and thrives in beating the record holders of most Asian team appearances in the World Cup. In the last edition of the qualification, it was that egotistical unwitting South Korean coach Choi Kang-hee who vowed that Carlos Queiroz will have to watch next year’s World Cup in Brazil on television.

The two coaches have traded verbal volleys in the lead-up to that decisive clash in Ulsan and at the end , Choi Kang-hee was the one who ended up watching World Cup on a Samsung TV while Queiroz and the boys was battling it out against the likes of the great Lionel Messi in Brazil.

There is no such animosity between Stielike and Queiroz who have strong mutual respect for each other, however, that does not dilute the intensity of the match in any way.  Stielike must be unsettled trying to figure out what Queiroz is up to tactically. Queiroz putting a lot of thoughts on how to take advantage of the Korean defensive vulnerability, which has conceded 4 goals in 3 matches.

Team Melli is a good shape to grab all the 3 points and looks like the favorite ahead of the World Cup qualifying showpiece event in Azadi. The passionate Iranian fans in the eve of Ashoora could make a big difference too.

 

 

Big test awaits Korea in Iran match

 

By John Duerden

Korea coach Uli Stielike has been fond of saying lately that there are no easy games at this stage of qualification for the 2018 World Cup. This time, the German is definitely correct. The Taeguk Warriors are in Iran for another vital showdown.

Korea has never won in the country ― this is the fourth visit in the space of seven years ― but this would be a good time to start. Both teams have seven points from three games in the final round of qualification so far. Iran sits on top of Group A with a slightly better goal difference. Uzbekistan is third with six points, Syria has four, China one and Qatar has yet to pick up a point. The top two from the six-nation group automatically qualify for Russia 2018.

Stielike boarded the plane at Incheon International Airport on Friday a relieved man. At half-time in Thursday’s game with Qatar at Suwon World Cup Stadium, the visitor was leading 2-1. Second half goals from Ji Dong-won and in-form Son Heung-min gave the host a very important win. It means that a draw at the cavernous Azadi Stadium, which saw 100,000 attend the same fixture between the two teams four years ago, would not be a bad result.

“It’s not just the fact that Iran is a strong team,” said captain Ki Sung-yeung, who scored the opening goal against Qatar and generally had a much-improved game compared to September’s 3-2 win over China and 1-1 tie with Syria. “There is also the altitude which makes it difficult too.”

Tehran lies around 1,200 meters above sea level. There are lots of stadiums around the world that are higher but with limited time to acclimatize, it makes things just that little bit trickier.

Iran, looking to qualify for a first back-to-back World Cup, is going well under experienced coach Carlos Queiroz. The wily former Real Madrid coach has led Team Melli to a win over Qatar, a tie in China and then a fine 1-0 victory in Uzbekistan on Thursday. He rested a few regular starters for that match. Iran should be a little fresher for the big game.

It remains to be seen as to what condition Son Heung-min is in. The Tottenham Hotspur man scored the winning goal against Qatar. It was his sixth goal in six games ― the 24 year-old is one of the most in-form players in the world right now. Yet he took a little punishment from the Qataris and left the stadium with his ankle wrapped in ice. A precaution, said the staff, but he has played a lot of football lately.

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Hong Jeong-ho will miss the game as he was harshly sent off on Thursday. That will leave his fellow defenders to deal with the threat of another of Asia’s big stars in Sardar Azmoun. The striker is hugely talented and has been linked with a move to Arsenal (the big London rivals of Son’s Spurs). At the moment, the striker, 21, plays his club football in Russia but a move further west is not far away.

Names such as Masoud Shojaei and Andranik Teymourian will be familiar to Korean fans who have grown accustomed to facing Iran on a regular basis. The big absence is the legendary midfielder Javad Nekounam who scored the winning goal in Tehran when the two met in qualification for the 2014 World Cup. The Prince of Persia has retired.

The faces come and go but the size of the fixture remains. Korea and Iran have nothing but mutual respect for each other. Whichever teams wins on Tuesday will take a major step towards the World Cup. Tehran will be no place for the faint-hearted.

Great tournament but Asia still fights credibility gap

By Nick Mulvenney

SYDNEY Sun Feb 1, 2015 3:48am GMT

(Reuters) – There is no doubt that to some jaundiced eyes, Australia winning the Asian Cup at their third attempt will be just further evidence of the weakness of the game on the world’s most populous continent.

The Socceroos became the eighth different winners of the title in the 16th edition of the continental tournament with their 2-1 victory over South Korea after extra time in front of 76,000 fans at Stadium Australia.

It was a Saturday night thriller worthy of bringing a close to a tournament that was organised with usual Australian efficiency and embraced by a nation normally in thrall to cricket and tennis at this time of year.

sardar azmoun Iraq

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I thought it was a beautiful game. It’s what football is all about,” Australia coach Ange Postecoglou told reporters after a pulsating match.

“It’s a final. It’s two teams going at it, giving everything they’ve got because they know what’s on the line. No team took a backward step.”

Postecoglou had joked earlier in the tournament about his team giving headaches to FIFA statisticians trying to figure out how such a lowly ranked team could be playing such good football.

The fact is though, for all the anomalies of the ranking system, Saturday night’s final matched the 100th-ranked hosts against the 69th ranked Taegeuk Warriors.

Both countries were among a four-strong Asian contingent that returned from last year’s World Cup in Brazil without a win between them.

Player of the Tournament, Australia midfielder Massimo Luongo, will fly back to Europe this week to rejoin Swindon’s campaign for promotion from England’s third tier.

The energetic 22-year-old may not be stuck in Wiltshire for too long, though, after he sealed a breakthrough campaign with a well-struck goal to give Australia the lead in the final.

That goal undoubtedly helped him edge out Omar Abdulrahman for the top player award despite the 23-year-old Emirati leaving a bigger stamp on the tournament with his exquisite ball skills and imagination.

Another of the standout players of the tournament, attacking midfielder Son Heung-min, recovered from illness early in his stay in Australia to take South Korea very close to ending their 55-year wait for a third Asian title.

There was plenty of quality goalkeeping on show as well with Australia’s 22-year-old Mat Ryan taking the award for the top shotstopper and also perhaps destined for a bigger European league than Belgium’s top flight.

Kim Jin-hyeon might have claimed the award had South Korea won the final having helped his team keep clean sheets in all their matches until the final, while Uzbekistan custodian Ignatiy Nesterov also deserved a mention.

fans and players mingle in brisbane

GREAT ACHIEVEMENT

Ali Makhbout was the top goalscorer of the tournament with five and his combination in attack with Abdulrahman and Ahmed Khalili made United Arab Emirates a threat to any side.

Of the bigger names to coming into the tournament, Tim Cahill’s brace in the quarter-final defeat of China took his tally to 39 goals in 80 internationals and proved there was plenty of life yet in the 35-year-old.

AC Milan striker Keisuke Honda’s disappointing campaign reflected that of Japan with their continuing problem of converting well-worked approach play into goals.

It was perhaps summed up when he blasted the opening penalty in the shootout against the UAE, that saw the defending champions crash out in the quarter-finals, high over the bar.

That came on the same night as the match of the tournament, when Iraq overcame Iran in a two-and-a-half hour rollercoaster ride played out in a sensational atmosphere in Canberra that ended with a 7-6 shootout victory to the 2007 champions.

That the match probably turned on the controversial dismissal of Iran’s Mehrdad Pooladi by Australian referee Ben Williams was a reminder that Asia still has plenty of work to do to improve the quality of officiating in the region.

Qatar’s early departure does not augur well for their hopes of qualifying at least once for the World Cup in 2018 before hosting the finals in 2022, while the decline of three-times champions Saudi Arabia continued as they were bounced out in the group stage for the second tournament in a row.

Carlos Queiroz’s work with Iran proved the value of quality coaching to mould raw Asian talent, while Postecoglou, South Korea’s Uli Stielike, Alain Perrin with a fast-improving China and Emirati Mahdi Ali also had good tournaments.

Postecoglou and German Stielike are at different stages in rejuvenation projects but after their experiences in the Asian Cup, will be confident of taking much stronger sides to represent the continent at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“The goal for this confederation should be to break the European and South American monopoly on the World Cup,” Postecoglou said.

“It’s a great achievement but it’s not the end of the journey. It’s the beginning for us.”

 

South Korea to meet the winner of Iran vs. Iraq in the semi finals.

22 January 2015 WSG

Melbourne: Son Heung-min scored twice in extra-time as two-time champions Korea Republic secured a third consecutive appearance in the semi-finals of the AFC Asian Cup after edging out Uzbekistan 2-0 in a thrilling quarter-final at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Thursday.

Bayer Leverkusen forward Son netted with just over a minute of the first half of extra-time remaining following an entertaining yet goalless 90 minutes of normal time, which was the first draw of the tournament, before repeating the feat at the end of the second period.

And having followed up their win over Uzbekistan in the third place play-off at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup with a fourth consecutive win of the 2015 campaign without conceding a goal, Uli Stielike’s Group A winners will face either Iran or Iraq in Monday’s semi-final at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

Korea coach “We are not here for any revenge.”

Uli Stielike, the Head Coach of South Korea , dismissed any notions of a revenge match ahead of the friendly in 100.000 capacity Azadi stadium on Tuesday.

“After our win in Jordan , we are here in Iran to continue our preparation for the Asian Cup and hopefully play a strong match .”

“I have a pretty good idea about Iran’s team and as one of the qualified teams to the World Cup , I watched their matches and can say that they played well and were at a high standard. I think we will see a good match on Tuesday”

 

 “We have no thoughts of revenge or anything like that in our mind. We simply want to play a good game against a tough opposition who are themselves, candidates for the AFC Asian Cup title.”

“I have heard quite a bit about the atmosphere in Azadi stadium with their vociferous crowds and would like to taste it firsthand. I hope we get good many numbers of fans in Azadi.”

 

Ulrich ‘Uli’ Stielike, who started his coaching career as the head coach of the Switzerland national football team from 1989 to 1991, trained several teams before joining South Korea on 5th September 2014

As a player, the German defender won the European Championship in 1980 and was a runner-up in the 82 World Cup.

Iran and South Korea have met each other in the last 4 editions of AFC Asian Cup in the Quarterfinals stage. Last time Iran defeated South Korea in the AFC Asian Cup goes back to 2004, when the wonders of Ali Karimi with his hat trick eliminated the South Koreans from the competition.