Soccer-No slip-ups in Korean defence leaves Stielike satisfied

SEOUL, June 17 (Reuters) - South Korea were never on thin ice against Myanmar during their 2-0 World Cup qualifying win, but while coach Uli Stielike gave his side high marks for technical merit he thought they lacked something in artistic impression. The Koreans, bidding to appear at a ninth straight World Cup finals, kicked off their Group G campaign with a comfortable victory in Bangkok on Tuesday. Lee Jae-sung opened the scoring in the first half after a goalkeeping error and Son Heung-min rifled home a free kick midway through the second against Myanmar, who are banned from hosting matches due to crowd trouble at a qualifier in 2011. While German Stielike could not fault his side's watertight defending against Myanmar, and in a 3-0 friendly win over United Arab Emirates last week, he thought they struggled to break down their opponents and gave the ball away too easily at times. "I am satisfied because we scored five goals and didn't give up any in those two wins," Yonhap News quoted Stielike as saying. "But we need to do a better job of creating space on offence and of controlling the ball when we have possession." Since taking over last year in the wake of a woeful World Cup campaign in Brazil, Stielike has helped Korea tighten up at the back and led them to the final of the Asian Cup in January, where they lost to hosts Australia. He was pleased that they continued to look solid at the back against Myanmar, even though the 143rd-ranked Southeast Asian side posed little threat up front. "Defensively, we played a perfect match," he said. "Offensively, we didn't quite have the creativity. In sports like figure skating, athletes are judged separately on techniques and artistry. "We did a fine job technically but not so in terms of artistry." Bayer Leverkusen forward Son said South Korea lacked composure at times but put that down to over-eagerness in their opening game. "Yesterday was our first game in the World Cup qualifiers, so our players were impatient and under pressure to get that first goal," he told reporters after arriving back in South Korea on Wednesday. South Korea host Laos in their next qualifier on Sept. 3. (Reporting by Peter Rutherford; Additional reporting by Kim Hoo-yeon; Editing by Ian Ransom)