S. Korea football coach shrugs off Iran’s complaint ahead of World Cup qualifier

Yonhap News – SEOUL, South Korea’s national football team head coach Shin Tae-yong said Monday he doesn’t want to engage in a “psychological game” with Iranian tactician Carlo Queiroz ahead of the teams’ World Cup qualifier.

South Korea and Iran will clash on Thursday at Seoul World Cup Stadium. Both teams are in Group A in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Iranians, who have already qualified for the World Cup in Russia, landed in South Korea on Saturday to prepare for the match, but their head coach Queiroz has been complaining about the poor pitch conditions of a stadium in Incheon where they chose to practice.

While Queiroz claimed that South Korea are not treating the visitors fairly, Shin, who took over the helm last month after Uli Stielike’s ouster, said he doesn’t care about the 64-year-old Portuguese’s opinion.

“People know how we were treated when we visited Iran last year,” Shin told reporters at the National Football Center (NFC) in Paju, north of Seoul. “I don’t want to engage in his (Queiroz) psychological game. I think they’re getting good treatment here.”

With the arrival of the Europe-based players like Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur and Koo Jae-cheol of FC Augsburg, Shin now has a full squad of 26 players at the NFC. Until last week, the 48-year-old coach has been training with 18 players who are mostly playing in South Korea and China.

“The players who arrived today will be able to join our full training session from tomorrow, so we only have about two days (before the match day),” he said. “It’s about time for the players to feel some tension, but I also want them to train with smile on their faces.”

The South Korean squad includes veterans like Lee Dong-gook, a 38-year-old striker who is the all-time leading scorer in the domestic K League Classic, and Swansea City anchorman Ki Sung-yueng, who wore the captain’s armband under Stielike’s era. Shin said he has settled on Guangzhou Evergrande defender Kim Young-gwon as the team skipper.

“Kim has a good chance of starting the match, and besides he was the captain when South Korea won the East Asian Cup (in 2015),” he said. “I hope his captaincy can bring that ‘winning energy’ to our team.”

South Korea suffered a 2-1 loss to pro club Suwon Samsung Bluewings in a practice match played at the NFC behind closed doors on Saturday. Shin said the result isn’t a big deal as his team tested various tactics and movements.

“I actually want to thank Suwon for having a match with us,” he said. “We played behind closed doors, because we don’t want to show our plans to others.”

Shin needs to cut three players from his squad before entering the match against Iran and also select his starting members. The former South Korea under-23 and under-20 national team coach, however, said he wants to keep those decisions secret until match day.

“It wouldn’t be appropriate for some players if I said I have chosen starting members at this point because that implies I’ve already made up my mind even before they came here,” he said. “People will find out about our starting members on the match day.”