Seongnam ready for Inter battle

Seongnam Ilhwa coach Shin Tae-Yong has challenged his side to be the equals of giants Inter Milan when the two meet in the Club World Cup.

Seongnam reached the semi-finals and a once-in-a-lifetime clash with the treble-winning Italians by virtue of their 4-1 thumping of local favourites Al Wahda in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Despite the mammoth task now facing his side, Shin believes they can expose Inter on Wednesday.

“Inter are the top team in the world so it won’t be an easy game, but our players are here to do our very best and I’m sure we’ll play well against them,” Shin said.

“As an Asian team if we do get to the finals it will be an honour to Asia, to me and the players it will be a great honour.”

“Inter are a very good team, but to challenge them at least once is a goal for all Asian teams.”

“In Korea there is a proverb that goes something like ‘better than death is to challenge’ and we’ll apply that in the match. If we can show them that we can be in the same game as them, it will be great for us.”

“In the media they’re talking a lot about Inter’s conflicts at home, but I’m not really concerned about that.”

“The coach and players, if they have a purpose and goal they’ll have a great game.”

“If they show their unity they can beat us, but if we challenge them I’m sure there is a weakness because of their conflicts at home.”

“In the locker room I will tell them it’s worth a try because they will never have an opportunity like that, and now that we have an opportunity we should definitely make the most of it.”

Seongnam centre-half and AFC Player of the Year Sasa Ognenovski scored his third goal in as many matches against Al Wahda.

The Australian said his team-mates are thrilled to be taking on the Italian and European champions, who are mired in a poor run of league form of late.

“The boys are buzzing about the game already and I’m sure we can give Inter a good run for their money,” Ognenovski told FIFA’s official website.

“They’re probably as weak right now as they’ve been for a long, long time, so hopefully we’re catching them when they’re vulnerable.”