Asian Cup: Reshuffled South Korea lineup beats Kuwait 1-0
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Uli Stielike didn't hide his displeasure, despite his South Korea lineup securing an Asian Cup quarterfinal spot with a win over Kuwait.
South Korea shrugged off injury and illness concerns off the pitch to beat Kuwait 1-0 on Tuesday night, with Nam Tae-hee's first-half header enough to give two-time champion six points from two games in Group A. Australia's later 4-0 win over Oman ensured both the Socceroos and South Korea would go through. Those teams will meet Saturday to determine top spot in the group.
"If we play the way we did today we have no chance against Australia" he said, adding that the only good things to emerge from the Kuwait match was that South Korea had enough points to progress to the knockout stage and that "we are no longer in the role of favorites for this competition."
"In a lot of phases in the game, Kuwait was the better team. And the result I think is very, very lucky today," Stielike said. "With a performance like today you cannot go far in this tournament."
Stielike was forced to make seven changes to the lineup that opened with a 1-0 win over Oman on the weekend. In the biggest of the setbacks before kickoff, team management revealed star winger Lee Chung-yong had fractured his shin bone and was preparing to fly home.
"In last two days, we had a big, big problem with fever in the team. At the moment, I have only 14 players without problems," he said. "As a result ... as you saw today there were a lot of problems with a new team trying to find themselves on the pitch. We had lots of problems in the game - I didn't expect so many problems."
Stielike said Son Heung-min developed a fever and had to be taken to hospital on Tuesday morning.
"Maybe tomorrow more players will be sick," he said. "If you have fevers in a group you don't know who will be affected next.
"Our main objective is now the recuperation of the players in these four days before the game against Australia."
Lee, who plays for English club Bolton, was injured in the win over Oman and was diagnosed with a shin fracture on Tuesday. He will return to South Korea on Wednesday.
"It's a big loss," Stielike said. "Every game, he is in the starting lineup. He plays every game for Bolton on the pitch. He has a lot of experience. I saw a lot of sad faces around him when the decision was taken to send him home, but we have to go on."
Right-back Kim Chang-soo has also failed to recover from his injury, while attacker Son, midfielder Koo Ja-cheol and goalkeeper Kim Jin-hyun were all removed from the team due to a fever that worsened in the hours before kick-off.
The replacements made heavy work of Kuwait, which lost 4-1 to Australia in the tournament opener.
The only goal of the game came eight minutes before half-time when Nam headed home a perfect Cha Du-ri cross.
The second half was a tough one for the Koreans, on the back foot for the majority of it. A shot from Ali Al Maqseed hit the post early and was a signal for an extended period of Kuwaiti pressure.
Despite plenty of possession, pressure and chances, Kuwait couldn't find a way past substitute goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu and fell out of contention ahead of its last group game against Oman at Newcastle.