“It was very hard for us to lose the final after coming back into the game after going a goal down. After a long tournament, the players tried hard and got us back in the game inside the 90 minutes.”
“It’s a shame that we lost the final because the way we played showed that we did not deserve to lose. We didn’t just rely on 11 players. This was a total team effort.”
“We have to stay on the right course. Based on tonight’s match, it was difficult to tell which was the home team and which was the visiting side. I’d like to congratulate my players. We will have to keep competing in the same spirit.”
– South Korea’s national football team head coach Uli Stielike
South Korea head coach Uli Stielike (R) embraces Son Heung-min after the team lost to Australia 2-1 in the AFC Asian Cup final on Jan. 31, 2015, in Sydney. (Yonhap)
The host Australia edged past South Korea 2-1 in extra time at Stadium Australia in Sydney, with James Troisi delivering the winner. With South Korea down 1-0, Son Heung-min netted the last-gasp equalizer to send the match into extra time, but the Socceroos prevailed in the end.
During his post-match press conference, Stielike, a German, pulled out a piece of paper to read out a message in Korean.
“People in the Republic of Korea, you can be proud of our players,” he said.
Stielike also said the match was so evenly contested that either side would have been a deserving champion.
“It was very hard for us to lose the final after coming back into the game after going a goal down. After a long tournament, the players tried hard and got us back in the game inside the 90 minutes,” he added. “It’s a shame that we lost the final because the way we played showed that we did not deserve to lose. We didn’t just rely on 11 players. This was a total team effort.”
“As time passes, these things will get better,” Stielike said. “We can work with inexperienced players to make them better.”
”We have to stay on the right course. Based on tonight’s match, it was difficult to tell which was the home team and which was the visiting side,” the coach added. “I’d like to congratulate my players. We will have to keep competing in the same spirit.”
A no-nonsense fundamentalist who constantly preached the value of ball possession and defensive responsibility, Stielike managed to bring together a team made up of players from leagues in eight different countries. (photo courtesy of Yonhap)
