Uli Stielike believes his boys played up to his expectations in 2015

Uli Stielike believes his boys played up to his expectations in 2015.

Stielike was given the charge of South Korea post the previous World Cup which was hugely disappointing for the team.

The Reds had suffered two defeats in the initial phase of the tournament itself and had got eliminated.

Hong Myung-Bo, the then manager had to bear the consequences as he had been handed the axe straightaway and Stielike was slotted in.

When asked how he would like to describe his first season in charge, Stielike said, “I am immensely pleased with the overall efforts of the boys. The expectations that I had with them, they fulfilled it, hats off to them.”

“The results definitely matter, but, what also holds a lot of importance is that that how much of hard work you are putting in behind the scenes and I would say everyone was brilliant in that sense. The attitude of the whole squad in training and also, their overall conduct off the pitch was great and I would like to thank them for that.”

“After having such a wonderful run, it’s only natural that the supporters would expect us to shine even more the coming season and we hope we don’t disappoint them.”

On World Cup qualifying games, the former German international said, “The opposition in the coming games would probably be slightly stronger, but, we will go with the same philosophy that has brought so much of success to us. We have been aggressive and we will keep on playing that way regardless of which team we are taking on.”

Stielike also pointed out Lee Jae-Sung saying that he has been one of the most improved players over the recent past.
In the words of the boss, “Lee has always been agile; covering plenty of distance, but, what’s wonderful to see is that he is scoring as well now which he was not doing consistently before.”