[Courtesy of Korean Football Association]
South Korea will play Spain and the Czech Republic in friendly matches in June to reflect national team coach Uli Stielike’s wish to face off strong European soccer powers ahead of the final round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
The Koreans will take on European champions Spain on June 1 in Salzburg, Austria, and the Czechs four days later in Prague, the Korean Football Association (KFA) said Friday.
Spain and the Czech Republic have been drawn together in Group D for this summer's Euro 2016 tournament in France.
South Korea have already clinched a spot in the next and final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2018 Cup finals with a perfect 6-0-0 record in a preliminary round group. They will host Lebanon on March 24 and Kuwait on March 29, whose results will be essentially meaningless.
Stielike had earlier said he'd like for South Korea to take on stronger opponents, preferably from Europe, than relatively weaker teams they'd faced in recent months.
Returning to South Korea from his offseason break Wednesday, the German native said "Of course Spain and the Czech Republic are opponents I'd love to meet".
But Stielike stressed that he will stick to his usual routine and focus on more immediate matches first.
We do have two World Cup qualifiers in March, and I won't overlook them just to start thinking about June," he said. "I think the top priority should be to respect our opponents for March and get ready for them accordingly," he told reporters.
Stielike, who'd spent some time during his vacation watching South Koreans in action in Germany, said he was concerned about the lack of playing time among national team’s pivotal players in their respective clubs. He'd often stressed that seeing regular action at the club level was an important factor in his national team selection process.
"Against Lebanon and Kuwait, I may be able to use players who haven't had a chance to compete of late," the coach said. "By doing that, they can regain their form and also grow more confident."
In the final World Cup qualifying round scheduled to begin in September, 12 countries will be divided into two groups with the top two teams from each group will qualify for the World Cup finals.
The two third-place teams will clash in a home-and-away playoff and the winner will reach the inter-confederation playoff against a contestant from the North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF) for the final chance to qualify for the World Cup.
The draw for the final round will take place on April 14.
South Korea have played in the past eight World Cups in a row. Under Stielike's leadership, the South Korean soccer team enjoyed a successful 2015, winning 16 out of 20 matches against only one loss and three draws. In 17 of those matches, South Korea didn’t allow a goal.
Stielike took over the national team in October 2014 at a time when South Korea were still reeling from a disappointing FIFA World Cup in Brazil. South Korea managed one draw and two losses in group stage for their first winless World Cup since 1998.
The poor performance cost Hong Myung-bo his coaching job after barely a year, and he was replaced by Stielike, who had previously coached in Germany, Switzerland, cote d'ivoire and Qatar.
By Alex lee
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
