Young enough is good enough - Lee

AFCAC – Korea Republic captain Lee Woon-jae feels that that his young defenders have gained enough from the experience of playing at this year’s AFC Asian Cup to prepare them for the daunting task of facing Iran in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

The 34-year-old goalkeeper is the veteran of a youthful squad that includes four starting players – Kim Jin-kyu, Kim Chi-woo, Oh Beom-seok and Kang Min-soo – who have yet to reach the age of 24.

But while Lee accepts that the Iranians have a more experienced squad, he is confident that his teammates will be able to rise to the challenge in their final eight clash against the Iranians at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

“They may have better players than us as we have a lot of young players in our team who did not have much international experience before the Asian Cup,” said the Suwon Bluewings keeper.

“However, they have gained enough experience after playing three games at the Asian Cup and they have grown up a lot because of their participation here.

“Iran will be a difficult challenge but I think that they will be ready to deal with them on Sunday.”

The meeting on Sunday will be the fourth consecutive Asian Cup quarter-final encounter between the two teams with Lee in goal when the Koreans went down 4-3 in China three years ago.

But while he has plenty of respect for the Iranians side, the Korean skipper admits that he has given Amir Ghalenoei’s side little thought up to now.

“We know that Iran are one of the powerhouses of Asian football and they have a very strong team.

“But so far I have not cared about them because we have been focussing on our own team.

“We will get the information from our coaching staff later about their strengths and weaknesses of the Iranian team.

“Of all the three games that we have played, none have been easy and the game against Iran will also be difficult. But if all the players do the job, then things will turn out well for us.”