It’s always nice to score a goal, but as I always say, team victory comes first.”
Moon Sun-min (31, Jeonbuk Hyundai) is determined to win.
Jeonbuk will host Ryan City Sailors FC in their fourth match of the Asian Football Confederation Champions League (ACL) Group F on Aug. 8 (7 p.m. ET) at Jalan Besar Stadium in Jalan Besar, Singapore.
After three matches, Jeonbuk is second in the group with two wins, one loss and six points, behind leaders Bangkok United (three wins, nine points).
Before the final local training session the previous day (July 7), Moon Sun-min told OSEN, “We need a win to change the atmosphere. We need to finish first to advance directly to the round of 16, so we will prepare well for the game against Ryan City.”레모나토토 도메인
At the end of the group stage, the top team from each group (five from East Asia and five from West Asia) will automatically advance to the Round of 16. The top three second-place teams from each region also punch their tickets to the Round of 16.
Jeonbuk, who will need to finish first in their group to avoid the complications of the round of 16, will be looking to take care of business in all of their remaining matches, including today’s.
Jeonbuk is coming off a 3-0 home victory over Lion City in the third leg at Jeonju World Cup Stadium on March 25. They hope to continue that momentum on the road. The team will also be looking to shake off the disappointment of finishing as runners-up to the Pohang Steelers in the FA Cup Final on April 4.
Moon Sun-min, who scored a goal in Game 3 to help the team to a big win, said, “It would be great to score a goal anytime, but as I always say, team victory comes first. I will contribute a lot,” he emphasized.
“Ryan City is a good team in Singapore, and that’s why we’re going into the ACL like this. We need to respect our opponents but play our game and we will get the result we want.”
Jalan Besar Stadium is not a natural grass field like Jeonbuk’s home stadium, Jeonju Stadium. It’s artificial. It’s also winter in Korea, while Singapore has a very hot summer. These are the two ‘home advantages’ of the Lion City. This is something the Jeonbuk players had to adapt to quickly.
“There are a lot of differences between the two surfaces,” says Moon. Artificial turf is harder and there are variables where you don’t know where the ball will bounce. It’s also very hot here, but we will do our best to avoid the same result as the last trip to Thailand (2-3 loss to Bangkok United in the second leg).”
Meanwhile, the ACL East Asia group stage, which kicked off with the first leg in mid-September, will be played on a home-and-home basis over the next three months until the sixth leg on December 13.