South Korea's men's football squad is expected to come out on top when the face China as they have lost just once to the rival team in 30 games, but the head coach of the Korean team, Uli Stielike, has warned his players not to underestimate their Chinese opponents.

The Chinese team, which currently sits at No. 78 in the latest FIFA world rankings, have been preparing hard for their upcoming match against the South Koreans. The Chinese football side held a training session in Shenyang last week. The Korea Republic, which sits at the 48^th spot in world rankings, will have just three days to train for the game.

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Although the Koreans have a shorter time to prepare, Stielike is confident that his squad will emerge victorious at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Thursday in their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match.

"There are no easy teams in the final round," Stielike told reporters. "China have recently pulled up their FIFA rankings and they are a competitive team."

"We don't have enough time, but on the match day, we will have to play like a team that has been working together for three months. Some players are with the team for the first time, but the rest of them have played together for a long time," he added.

According to Fox Sports, out of the 20 players that make up the South Korean team, only three - Lee Jae-sung, Lee Yong and Kwon Chang-hoon - play in the K-League Classic. This has led some football enthusiasts to question whether the 61-year-old Stielike has a tendency to lean towards picking players that ply their trade in foreign leagues.

Stielike has revealed that he plans to get some insight into the Chinese players from four of his defenders - Jang Hyun-soo, Kim Kee-hee, Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Young-gwon - as they play in the Chinese Super League.

"They play with Chinese national members on their clubs," Stielike said. "I will have a lot of conversations with them."

Tagsfifa, FIFA World Cup, Korea republic, K-League Classic, uli stielike