Naegohyang Women's FC head coach Ri Yu-il, left, and forward Kim Kyong-yong attend a press conference at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. Yonhap
The head coach of the North Korean women's football club competing at the top Asian tournament south of the border on Friday took exception to the narrative that his athletes play a rough style.
Ri Yu-il and his Naegohyang Women's FC will play Tokyo Verdy Beleza in the final of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League at 2 p.m. Saturday at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, 30 kilometers south of Seoul. The two teams will vie for $1 million in prize money at the continent's top women's club football competition.
Naegohyang rallied past South Korea's Suwon FC Women 2-1 in Wednesday's semifinals, while Tokyo Verdy Beleza beat Melbourne City FC 3-1 earlier in the day.
At his prematch presser Friday, Ri said Naegohyang will try to accomplish an objective that transcends the trophy.
"We believe that developing into an even stronger club through this final is just as important as winning the competition," Ri said. "I think we are relatively well prepared for the match."
The two finalists also met during the group stage in November in Myanmar, where Tokyo Verdy Beleza won handily 4-0.
When asked how he would prepare for what could be a rough match, Ri took exception to the wording of the question.
"I don't know what you mean by rough. We also heard that expression from our opponents in the semifinals," Ri began. "In football, there are always rules and referees. Do you mean a match with a reasonable level of physicality, or do you mean a more intense match? We will have the referee who will call fouls and hand out yellow cards. Before I answer that question, I think that expression itself is incorrect.
"And just as we did in the semifinals, we will do our best within the confines of the rules in the final," Ri concluded.
Source: Korea Times News
