Stielike’s 3-point leadership revives hope for Korean soccer

"With conviction, candidly, and in a future-oriented way….”

These are words any leader would want to emphasize. However, some leaders only make blank empty pledges and fail to deliver. Coach Uli Stielike, 61, who led the Korean national team to the second place at the AFC Asian Cup, also made such remarks. And he kept his words. In addition, what he says has thoroughly premeditated. Here is "linguistic tactics" that he deployed outside the stadium from the time of his inauguration to the Asian Cup final against Australia.

At his first meeting with Korean reporters on Sept. 8 last year, Stielike, the first expat coach of the national team in seven years, presented the picture of soccer he would seek to draw, which were "winning soccer" and "soccer with solid defense." Korea had five consecutive wins through the semifinal match without allowing a single goal at this event.

The coach displayed strong conviction starting from the player selection process. He did not pay attention to players’ lackluster performance in the past or assessment by the media. Instead, he checked players’ current conditions in person. After picking Park Chu-young in November last year, Stielike downplayed negative opinion, saying, “The national team is open to everyone. It is not right to rule out just because he was criticized in the past.” When Park failed to display impressive play, however, he included Lee Jeong-hyeop, who was not even on the candidate list, in the final roster of the team in November. When bringing in Cha Du-ri in a surprise move, he said, “I was told that Korea did not have good results at the Brazil World Cup due to players’ lack of experience. We need a veteran who can lead younger players.”

Stielike was very frank. He admitted that he does not know things that he lacks knowledge about. When announcing the first roster of Team Korea, he said, “As a foreigner, I have limited knowledge about Korean soccer. Players in the national team are not much different from those who were on the roster before I joined. I will start from square one, and form an increasingly strong team.” In the same context, at his first meeting with Korean reporters, he said, “To know Korean soccer, I need to know culture as well. What I have to do over the next several months is to see what are in Korean culture.” After Korea barely beat Kuwait in its second group match, he said, “Following today’s event, we will be excluded from the list of favorite teams.” He thus used rhetoric plotted to stimulate players, while admitting to Korea’s effective loss in the match.

Unlike former expat coaches of the Korean national team, Coach Stielike also addressed a lot about the future of Korean soccer. “If I did not have hope, I would not have assumed the coach. What I wish to leave as my legacy is to create a link to ensure many K-league players make the national team roster,” he expressed hope. The coach also called for soccer fans’ support, saying, “The number of K-League spectators is genuine interest in soccer.”

Analysts would say that the current national team was the weakest ever in Korea’s soccer history. However, Coach Stielike made achievement that Korean soccer had never attained for 27 years in just five months after his inauguration. After the final match in Australia, he articulately read Korean words written on a sheet of paper, “People of the Republic of Korea, you can take pride in your players.”

Will Coach Stielike remain a great coach in Korean soccer? He is off to a good start.