Al Ain turns Korean Park’s dream into reality

Al Ain midfielder Park Young-woo of South Korea will have his dream of making a global club appearance when he plays for Al Zaeem the day after tomorrow in the Intercontinental Cup against Auckland City of New Zealand at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium. He missed the opportunity four years ago when his former team Ulsan Hyundai participated in the Club World Cup as the 2020 AFC Champions League champions, but at the time he was required to perform national service.

Park Young told Emarat Al Youm that he is excited to participate with Al Ain in the Intercontinental Cup, adding: “This will be the first time I play at the international level with clubs, because when my former team Ulsan Hyundai won the AFC Champions League, I went to national service, which is why I was not with them in the World Cup.”

“I am looking forward to this match because I think it is like the Club World Cup, and I expect it to be a tough match. Let us remember that our opponent in the match is the champion of their continent last season, and we also won the AFC Champions League title, which will make it a strong match,” he added.

Asked if he had any prior knowledge of their rivals Auckland City or had faced them in his previous career, Park Young said: “As for me, I don’t know anything about them. They are also not geographically close to my country. It takes about nine hours to fly there. As I mentioned, I don’t know the team’s style of play, but in the end, I am ready to play this match, which will be exciting.”

Regarding the type of tactics that Al Ain needs to win the match, the South Korean international said: “We played the match against Al Sadd in the AFC Champions League for the elite very well, but we made some mistakes. I think we need to improve our performance and try to focus more.”

Park Young-ho ruled out that the 1-1 draw against Al Sadd would cast a shadow over the match against Auckland City in the Intercontinental Cup, saying: “I think they are two separate tournaments, but in general we played well against Al Sadd. We have time to train before the match against Auckland. We will try to benefit from this time. We will work to appear better in the Confederations Cup than in the elite tournament.”

The Al Ain player pledged to work to help his team in the match in order to achieve the desired goal of victory, saying: “Our collective goal is to achieve victory, and my goal on a personal level is to try to build a strong barrier and link the defense with the attack. I will also try to achieve the numerical advantage by pressing forward.”

On the other hand, Al Ain team held a training session at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, led by Argentine coach Hernan Crespo, in preparation for the upcoming match against the New Zealand team. The session included raising the fitness level and implementing some tactical phrases, while the goalkeepers underwent intensive training before conducting a short “division” between the players.

Al Ain loses Al Hashemi and Nader against Auckland

The duo Khaled Al-Hashemi and Yahya Nader were excluded from the calculations of the Argentine coach, Hernan Crespo, after medical examinations proved their inability to participate.

The team doctor, Nicholas Tzouroudis, told the official account of Al Ain Club on the “X” application that “Al Hashemi’s injury is a knee injury that he sustained before the match against Al Sadd of Qatar and he will be absent from group training for 10 days, and that the magnetic rays showed that Yahya Nader suffered a strain in the adductor muscle in his left foot, and he needs a treatment period ranging between two and three weeks.”

Park Young Woo:

• We played well against Al Sadd, and we have time to train before the Auckland match.

• We will work to appear in the Confederations Cup in a better way than in the elite tournament.