Stielike warns it won't be easy for Euro-stars

Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min, center, takes on Manchester United’s Chris Smalling, right, during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at White Hart Lane in London, Britain, Sunday. / EPA-Yonhap

By John Duerden

The dust has settled on the draw for the 2018 World Cup for South Korea. Coach Uli Stielike knows exactly which teams they will face ― China, Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan and Syria ― and when: it all starts on September 1, 2016, and ends September 5, 2017. Now he has to start thinking about his team.

His mission is simple: to finish in the top two in the group and as this is the World Cup, the boss will want to field his strongest team in every game. Some of the team's best are in Europe.

There is the English Premier League trio of captain Ki Sung-yueng at Swansea City, Lee Chung-yong at Crystal Palace and Son Heung-min at Tottenham Hotpsur. There are more in Germany: Park Joo-ho at Borussia Dortmund, Hong Jeong-ho, Koo Ja-cheol and Ji Dong-won at Augsburg and Kim Jin-soo with Hoffenheim.

Most of those would expect to be selected for the national team if fit but the coach has warned the Euro-stars that it won’t be so easy. He has told them that only those who play regularly for their clubs will be considered.

At the moment, that applies to few. None of the English-based stars are doing so. Ki was Swansea's player of the season last time but injuries and the club's struggles have seen him lose his regular-starter status. Son at Spurs is usually on the bench while Lee at Palace often struggles to get that close to the field.

In Germany, only Koo and Hong play often, with Ji injured and the two left backs, Park and Kim, not having played for a couple of months.

Obviously, players who aren’t regularly on the field can lose their form and sharpness. The ideal situation is for the overseas stars to play every week at a high level. It is better to be playing in the K-League than benched in the Premier League. Stielike is hopeful that some will move teams after the European season ends.

“I am curious how they will turn out in transfers this summer,” he told reporters at Incheon International Airport after returning from the draw. “I have some expectations that those players (who are not playing regularly) may have more opportunities in new teams. It is very important for them to play regularly.

“I think calling up players who have not played as regular members for about six months to the World Cup squad wouldn’t be appropriate.”

The problem is an old one and every coach for South Korea has said a similar thing since Koreans started going to Europe in any kind of number. The promise or threat goes that players who rarely play in England or Germany will not play for Korea. It sounds reasonable, but when it comes down to it, no coach follows it up. If Stielike does, he will be the first.

He is also being a little disingenuous. Not only can the coach decide what constitutes regular, but he will be naming his roster for the first two games, against China at home and Qatar away, in mid-August when the European season is just starting. Nobody will have played.

Six months after the start of the new season, when his deadline is looming, half the qualification games will already have been played. If results are good, nobody will care and there will no calls to change a winning Korean team. If results are poor, there will be pressure to change anyway.

Even so, it is hard to imagine Ki, the captain and heartbeat of the team, or Son, its biggest star, being left out of any roster because they have not been playing regularly. It is unlikely to happen, appropriate or not.