Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Melbourne: Forward Son Heung-min is set to start for Korea Republic in Thursday’s AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 quarter-final against Uzbekistan as coach Uli Stielike seeks to find the right balance to his side at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Son was only able to feature during last week’s 1-0 win over Australia as a second half substitute after a virus had ruled the 22-year-old out of Korea’s victory over Kuwait having started in the opening triumph over Oman.
But with 2011 third place finishers Korea seeking to add to semi-final appearances in 2007 and 2011, Son is set for a recall to face Uzbekistan at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium with Stielike’s side seeking to maintain their 100 percent record in the tournament.
“We have in our mind that Son Heung-min will start tomorrow (Thursday), but also he was very sick over the last 10 days so now step-by-step he is recovering, but even if he starts tomorrow, we are not sure if he can stay for the 90 minutes on the pitch,” said German coach Stielike.
“If you look at the statistics from the Australia game, we missed a lot of passes and missed a lot of chances, so by introducing Son Heung-min we hope we can be more dangerous.”
Korea have also yet to concede in single-goal wins over Oman, Kuwait and Australia, although Stielike is still waiting to see the best from his side, who are certain to be without Lee Chung-yong and Koo Ja-cheol for the remainder of the tournament due to injury.
Match highlights: Australia 0-1 Korea Republic
Match highlights: Kuwait 0-1 Korea Republic
Match Highlights: Korea Republic 1-0 Oman
Defender Kim Ju-young and midfielder Park Joo-ho, though, are in contention following recent injuries.
“There is a lot of expectation from the supporters and this was one of the reasons we started the tournament not so good because we had a lot of problems in the game against Oman and Kuwait when the team could have lost,” added Stielike.
“Against Australia this pressure was taken away by the team and we played in another mental way and this is now for me the big questions as the pressure comes back with the quarter-final and if we can work with the same mentality like we worked without pressure against Australia.
“My benchmark for this quarter-final is very easy, to put the second half from Oman from the technical side where we had 66-68% ball possession with a high rate of accuracy, about 86%, with the speed, the mentality and the organisation that we showed in most parts of the game against Australia. If we bring these two things together, I am not afraid, it does not matter which opponent we have. But if one or both are missing, we will be in trouble.”
Photo: AFP