Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Pohang: Coach Hwang Sun-hong insists K-League Classic champions Pohang Steelers are prepared to deal with the threat of Cerezo Osaka’s potentially potent forward line ahead of Tuesday’s AFC Champions League Group E opener.
The only side to be crowned champions of Asian football’s top club competition on three occasions [Asian Club Championship 1997 and 1998; ACL 2009], Pohang claimed another landmark honour in 2013 when Hwang Sun-hong’s side became the first team to win the Korean double after beating Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on penalties in the FA Cup final before claiming the domestic title courtesy of a stoppage-time winner on the last day of the season.
But having failed to reach the knockout stage in their last two continental campaigns, the 2009 AFC Champions League winners must pick up where they left off at the end of last year with Cerezo making the trip to The Steelyard with a side which contains 2010 FIFA World Cup MVP Diego Forlan and Japan international Yoichiro Kakitani, who scored 21 goals in the J.League last season.
“We will try our best to win at home, but it will be a challenging game,” said Pohang coach Hwang, who was the J.League’s top scorer in 1999 while playing for Cerezo.
“We know in Forlan that they have a fantastic player and we have looked at him closely, but we will see how things pan out, whether they play with one up front or with two, we will adapt accordingly.
“With my previous spell as a player with Cerezo, I’m happy to come up against them. I have lots of happy and good memories so it will be exciting.”
Cerezo finished fourth in the J.League last year, and with runners-up Yokohama F. Marinos going onto win the Emperor’s Cup, Cerezo qualified for only their second AFC Champions League appearance.
And after Forlan joined Cerezo at the start of the year from Brazil’s Internacional, the Uruguay international will make his eagerly-anticipated debut against Pohang with Ranko Popovic’s side looking to build on their run to the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League on their debut appearance three years ago.
“The match is a good opportunity, not only for the club, but for the Japanese nation,” said Serbian Popovic, who replaced Levir Culpi as Cerezo coach at the end of last year after taking FC Tokyo to an eighth place finish in the J.League.
“It is an honour to be playing in this tournament. We have many young players in our squad so it will be a good experience for them also.
“We know of Pohang's strengths, they have a squad without any foreign players. They are playing good football and are a very good side.”