Korea Vs. Costa Rica: Team Stielike Shooting for Another Victory

By Nam Hyun-woo

Will the national football team give fans another surprise by beating a mighty Central American squad in a friendly today?

After leading Korea to victory against Paraguay last week, new coach Uli Stielike seemed convinced of his team's chances against Costa Rica

"When I came up with fresh squad in the game against Paraguay, there was a good result," said Stielike during a news conference at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, Monday.

"Tomorrow's game will likely be similar Regardless of who plays in which position, I am confident of victory.

Team Korea will take on Costa Rica at the Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 pm in their last friendly on home soil this year

It is the second game for the German since arriving in Korea to lead the national team A successful coaching debut on Oct. 10 ndash; beating Paraguay 2-0 ndash; gave local fans much to cheer about in what has been a lackluster year for the Korean team

The Costa Ricans are expected to be tough, given their campaign at the Brazil World Cup.

With a 3-5-2 formation and Real Madrid goalkeeper Keilor Navas' brilliance, they reached the last 16, finishing top of a group containing Italy.

"If you think about FIFA rankings, it seems easy to predict who will win this game," said Stielike.

"However, I believe there is a possibility that we will perform well to win. They have trained so hard and I had difficulty in choosing whom to start the game.

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Costa Rica ranks 15th in the FIFA rankings, while Korea is ranked 63rd.

New experiments

Stielike's strategy in promoting underutilized players seemed to have worked against Paraguay.

"I will conduct a new experiment again, but try to minimize potential risks," he said.

The 11 players in the game against Paraguay consisted of unfamiliar names, such as Kim Min-woo, Nam Tae-hee and Cho Yong-cheol, all of whom missed the World Cup.

Stielike benched most of the often-mentioned starters, such as Lee Dong-gook, Kim...