Ulsan Hyundai manager Kim Ho Gwon has assured fans his side will be strong enough to beat the Newcastle Jets in their Asian Champions League fixture on Tuesday night despite fielding a ‘second string’ team.
The Korean side arrived in Australia for the crucial ACL match without 12 players who took part in last week’s 3-1 loss to Japanese side Nagoya Grampus in the opening round of the prestigious competition.
Despite the large change in personnel, Gwon was confident of fielding a competitive side in Newcastle in the second-round clash.
“The ACL and K-League are both important but I can’t just concentrate on the ACL, I have to think about the next game in the K-League,” Gwon said.
“We have 30 players registered for the ACL and every player is playing regularly and is a professional so I am not worried about it.”
Gwon said he was ‘confident’ in his side’s ability to score an away win against Newcastle despite admitting the Jets had impressed him in a 2-0 loss in Beijing.
“I think the Newcastle side is very good and I watched their match against Beijing last week and thought they were good,” he said.
“They have a really good balance in offense and defence and they have a very good physical presence especially on the long pass.”
“I think the dangers will be the strikers Sasho Petrovski and Donny De Groot as well as Fabio Vignaroli.”
Gwon also said there was no excuse of jet-lag or being under prepared for Tuesday night’s match and indicated he would instruct his players to go all out for all three points in the match.
“Even though my players have travelled more than 10 hours to be here, they are all professional footballers and will be ready for the match,” he said.
“But we have already had a loss to the Japanese side last week so this week has to be a win, nothing else.”
