Stielike recently released his callups for the friendly vs. Canada and a VERY important WCQ match against Group A leaders Uzbekistan. A loss to Uzbekistan would make our progression into the World Cup incredibly difficult, and it would almost certainly lead to Stielike getting sacked. Yet, Stielike decided to callup a thoroughly underwhelming squad. It seems fairly standard in the midfield, but the rest of the positions look worryingly weak. I apologize in advance – this will certainly be one of my most pessimistic posts so far.
In English, the callups are as follows:
Kim Jinhyeon
Kwon Suntae
Kim Seunggyu (the standard GK lineup)
Kim Kihee
Jang Hyunsoo
Hong Jeongho
Kwak Taehwi (we’re going to have issues with these four CBs)
Kim Changsoo
Choi Chulsoon
Yoon Sukyoung (WHY)
Hong Chul
Park Jooho (a slightly more muted WHY)
Jung Wooyoung
Kim Bokyung
Han Kookyoung
Son Heungmin
Lee Jaesung
Lee Chungyong
Ki Sungyong
Nam Taehee
Koo Jacheol
Ji Dongwon (the Tuna might just be our savior)
Hwang Heechan (on fire but will he play?)
Lee Jeonghyub (WHY??!)
Kim Shinwook (he’s playing decently well for Jeonbuk but..)
Still. That is a really uncomfortable frontline – I wouldn’t be fully comfortable with any of them starting up top. I especially don’t know what Stielike is thinking calling up Lee Jeonghyup again considering he’s done literally nothing for Ulsan as of late. The best solution, imo, is to put Ji Dongwon up top.
It’s not only the frontline that’s worrying – our fullbacks currently consist of 1) a player who’s been described as a “training cone” for Bronsby FC (when you’re a training cone for a Danish League team you’ve got a problem), 2) a player who got wrecked on his start for Dortmund (it’s Dortmund, but he hadn’t played a game in ages until this past week), and 3) the K League FB trio in Hong Chul, Kim Changsoo, and Choi Chulsoon, a man who is often called up but unfortunately never gets to play. This lineup really does not inspire confidence – in my opinion, at least, Oh Jaesuk and Ko Kwangmin are still the most solid FB duo for Korea. On the bright side, however, Jang Hyunsoo at RB seems to have been dropped considering 5/9 defenders are natural FBs and 3/9 are natural CBs. The problem is, of course, that the four CBs are either incredibly old or playing in China. I would willingly bet a good amount of money that we will concede against Uzbekistan.
So we play Canada on the 11th then play Uzbkeistan on the 15th, all at home. The good thing is, players will probably be released from their clubs a good full week before the match (11/4-6). There will likely be a good amount of rest for these guys; thus, I propose that we should go all out against Canada and play the exact same lineup against Uzbeksitan four days later. This is because the team chemistry is so off that they need all the practice they can get – we also don’t have to worry about travel like we did a couple weeks ago against Iran.
For me, going all out (with this lineup…) would be..
Ji Dongwon — Son Heungmin, Koo Jacheol, Kim Bokyung, Lee Jaesung — Ki Sungyong — FB, CB, CB, FB — Kim Seunggyu.
This may be a little controversial to some. Yes, I dropped Lee Chungyong due to lack of playing time, and I put Ki Sungyong in the DM. I put him there because although he is a very good goal threat, he can push up when need be and strike from distance. We need all the firepower we can get because whoever plays in defense will inevitably make mistakes, and although this may not be Stielike’s style, we desperately need to score goals. Han Kookyoung doesn’t help much when it comes to firepower, and honestly, Ki can do a better job that HKY in DM. The supersubs, of course, would be Hwang Heechan, Lee Chungyong, and Kim Shinwook.
Let us know what you think of the callups and my proposed starting XI below!
this is just a theory but…
I think Stielike is calling up LJH again hoping that he may do something for him like in the Asian Cup. Although I have to say that isn’t a smart gamble.
Where the heck is Oh Jaesuk? And did Kim Younggwon get injured or something?
The midfield seems to be the only convincing thing to me.
For the forwards.. I know it may be controversial but what about Park Chu Young? And where’s Suk Hyun Jun anyways?
My gosh nvm if we beat Canada, I want us to beat Uzbekistan more than them. It took Korea to overtime last time in the Asian Cup to beat Uzbekistan. I hope we win against the Uzbeks…
Suk Hyunjun and Oh Jaesuk are on the supplemental squad list. That list in full is: Kim Dongjun (GK), Kim Minhyuk (DF), Oh Jaesuk (DF), Kwon Changhoon (MF), Suk Hyunjun (FW), Hwang Uijo (FW). And Kim Younggwon did get injured.
Since people have been mentioning a potential recall for Park Chu-young I’d like to just make a couple comments on that. IMO calling him up is an iffy decision – not because of his past comments/WC performance – but more because of what’s going on with him now ON the pitch. Under Hwang Sun-hong, Park Chu-young has largely been shunted out onto the right wing with either Adriano or Dejan playing the center forward role. The NT has better options (Lee Jae-sung, Lee Chung-yong, Ji Dong-won) that can play that position. Also, I went to the game yesterday between Jeju and Seoul with a specific intention of watching Park Chu-young, and his performance was not terribly impressive. He basically just drifted around the right flank, not really doing much at all. His movement wasn’t particularly sharp nor did he ever look like he was going to create much or do anything decisive. Perhaps he would have done better in the center forward role, but from what I saw there isn’t much benefit in bringing him back to the NT fold atm.
Hmmm maybe you’re right. I follow FC Seoul on Instagram and noticed him being put to the right for a while. Plus it is true Park Chu Young isn’t young anymore. He was 29 or 28 at the last World Cup. I don’t think he’s going to the next World Cup if we make it. Plus people still have those last WC memories and I don’t think Stielike likes the controversy with him.
Even if he does go he’ll probably never play unless he has to. I don’t think Park’s been scoring either lately so that sucks.
After the 2014 WC I was hoping Korea would rebuild and do better for the next tournament. I remember the commentators saying how we can do better next time. Well right now we don’t know if we will even make it to the WC. It’s a shame really. There have been a few sparks looking back but this is just plain sad.
well on the bright side Hwang Heechan is finally actually playing for Salzburg. To put that in perspective Minamino, a year older and 1 year sunbae at Salzburg, is still on the bench ..
On the other hand, Stielike calling up HHC and not using him at all might hurt his club form 🙁
Jae I only got to see HL for Seoul-Jeju, who do you think was the MotM
Honestly it was pretty poor all-around, but I’d loosely go with Yun Illok.
Why is Ji Dong Won called the tuna?
There’s a popular brand of canned tuna in Korea produced by a company named ‘Dongwon’ which is the same as Ji’s name.