Ras Al Khaimah: Korea Republic coach Lee Kwang-jong has vowed to maintain his offensive tactics in Sunday’s quarter-final against Iran, the team he rates as the best in the tournament so far.
The 11-team champions advanced to the last eight as runners-up in Group B following a goalless draw with table-toppers Iraq and victories over Thailand (2-1) and China (1-0) while Group A winners Iran have been in imperious form defeating title contenders Japan 2-0 and Kuwait 6-0 either side of a 1-1 draw with tournament hosts UAE.
“So far, Iran have emerged as the team to beat in this competition,” Lee stated at the pre-match press conference.
“What I have seen of them so far is that they are very good in attack but our philosophy will be the same and that is attack first then defend so let’s hope this will be a good match for the audience.”
While Lee would be delighted to extend Korea’s tournament win record to 12, he also has one eye on the future with The 2014 Olympic Games in Brazil featuring in the mind of the Korean coach.
“This team will develop as our Olympic team so we are trying our best to ensure they got lots of international exposure by winning this quarter-final and qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
“It was very disappointing that our under 16s failed to make it to the World Cup following their defeat in the quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship and we don’t want a repeat of that disappointment here.”
Having successfully negotiated the group stage Iran coach Akbar Argi is ready to embrace the knockout phase of the competition, starting with Sunday’s showdown between two sides he sees as amongst the continent’s best.
“To be honest our journey in the competition starts tomorrow,” said Argi, who will be missing the services of suspended striker Sardar Azmoun, who scored in the 6-0 win over Kuwait.
“I was always confident we would get through the group stage given the strength of the opponents and now all eight teams in the knockout stage are capable of winning this competition.
“The Koreans are one of the big names in Asian football and they are the record 11-time champions of this competition so we will be showing them the utmost respect.
“Having said that, I believe in my players and their qualities. It will be a highly-charged match with both sides going all out for the win so I guess the spectators can look forward to enjoying a match between two of the top Asian footballing nations.”