Stielike: "Sometimes I speak to my dead son"

On the pitch, he was one of the world's best in his playing days, as a coach it has taken nearly 26 years to get to the top. This Saturday Uli Stielike could win his first title as a football coach when his South Korean team faces hosts Australia in the Asian Cup final in Sydney.

The 60-year-old former Real Madrid (1977-1985/215 games) player was one of the forgotten ones among Germany's football coaches, now the former defensive midfielder is back on the world's football stage.

"We are not the favorites going into the match, that's obvious, but we nevertheless are desperate to win the final," said Stielike. "I love the Korea's enthusiasm for football."

For many, Stielike's appointment as South Korea's coach in September 2014 (four-year contract until 2018) was a surprise. His record as a coach was not outstanding but as the Korean Association wanted to start from scratch again after the disastrous World Cup campaign which ended at the preliminary group stage, Stielike's competitors for the job could not satisfy the expectations of Korea's federation. For some it was a risk to sign a man that had mostly worked behind the scenes.

Stielike promised to move to South Korea right away and support the association in their attempt to set up a youth academy program. Together with his wife, Stielike lives in the capital Seoul. The doubts, Stielike could catch up with the rapid development in world's top football soon rescinded.

"We can become a top football nation, but it will take time. Therefore we have to look at how young players are developed within the Korean system. In Germany for instance the association can school youngsters from an early age. In Korea, university and college Sports play a vital role," said Stielike.

So Stielike couldn't provide a brilliant record as a coach. Especially after he was appointed the Germany's assistant coach in 1998 in a time when the country's football was in the middle of what is seen as the darkest age as the team was knocked out in the group stage in the 2000 European championship.

The man that was voted the Spanish Primera Division's "Player of the Year" four times in succession was not made for the "diplomatic service" as the former president of the German association, Egidius Braun, once said. He fought for a better education system and radical changes in Germany. He was soon demoted back to the association's youth teams - where he worked with 2014 World Cup winners like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski - as not all in the German association liked his openness.

"Korea will be my last job. In 2018 I will be 64. But I was happy with the enthusiasm from the first moment on," said Stielike.

In 2008 his career as a coach seemed to be at a critical point. About two weeks before the Africa Cup, he quit his job as the Cote d'Ivoire's coach due to a serious illness of his 23-year-old son Michael. Stielike in January 2008 returned home to be bedside with his son who suffered from a lung disease.

A few weeks later his son died and Stielike found himself in the middle of a deep personal crisis. "I sometimes talk to my son, he is always with us, but life has to go on," said Stielike, who has two other grown up kids.

His son's death changed Stielike's attitude to life: "I feel no fear today, no matter how high the pressure gets and no matter how tricky situations get. Maybe I know better than ever since then there is something more important."

When Stielike left Real in 1985 after seven years, he thought about his career and said he wanted to be anything but a coach in football - and in the end he did exactly the thing that was furthest from his mind. "As a coach, you'd better live in a camper van. Who wants to do that?" he said.

Today Stielike seems to have found an alternative way of living. The job in South Korea is his last chance to live a happy life as a football coach. Stielike speaks English, Spanish and German to his players and relies on a translator as well.

Three Australian players play for clubs in the German first and second divisions like Robbie Kruse (Bayer Leverkusen), Mitch Langerak (Borussia Dortmund) and Mathew Leckie (FC Ingolstadt). For South Korea, Stielike can count on Heung-Min Son (Bayer Leverkusen), Joo-Ho Park (FSV Mainz) and Jin-Su Kim (TSG Hoffenheim).

"So far Australia has been the best team of the tournament," the German said. "I am sure we won't play the same Australia as we did in the group in Saturday's final, but we have to be the same South Korea," said Stielike.

In the first match against Australia, Stielike's South Korea beat Australia 1-0. Now hopes are growing in South Korea that they might win the Asian Cup title again for the third time after 1956 (in Australia) and 1960 (in South Korea) - and with a man whose appointment came as a surprise to the football-mad country. Endi