Sydney FC Head Coach Steve Corica has vowed to approach the Sky Blues’ 2019 AFC Champions League campaign different to previous years as he prepares for Matchday 1 tomorrow at Jubilee Stadium against Ulsan Hyundai FC (kick off 8pm AEDT).
Sydney FC Head Coach Steve Corica has vowed to approach the Sky Blues’ 2019 AFC Champions League campaign differently to previous years as he prepares for Matchday 1 tomorrow at Jubilee Stadium against Ulsan Hyundai FC (kick off 8pm AEDT).
Corica has his sights set firmly on qualifying for the knockout stages and he’s left no stone unturned in the build up to Wednesday’s clash against the Korea Republic giants.
“We’ve learnt from last year and we’ll make sure that we’ll do a few things a little bit differently and make sure that we give ourselves the best chance to go through to the next round,” Corica said.
“Last year we had two home games and we lost both of them so it’s important that we win this first game.
“Off the field I think we prepared really well for the campaign last year. it’s just a couple of things on the field that I thought we could do a little bit differently this year and we’ll put them in place tomorrow and see how we go.
“They have a lot bigger budget than us and we have the salary cap here and it’s a little bit difficult but we have players that can deal with it and we’re looking forward to a very good campaign.
“It is early in their league and in their pre-season so we’ll try and take advantage of it,” Corica continued.
“Our boys are fit and we’re almost 3/4 way through our season and we’re ready to go so we’ll do our best to get a result tomorrow.
“Defensively we have to be strong. We have their video, we had [Assistant Coach] Robbie Stanton go watch their game against Perak to make sure we do our homework and give ourselves the best possible chance for us to win this game.”
Corica confirmed he has a full squad available for selection for Wednesday night’s clash in Kogarah, as he hailed new signing Reza Ghoochannejhad’s impact since joining the club.
“After the weekend game everyone’s good,” he said.
“We’ve got Brosque back after his suspension and everyone else is all good and very excited about their campaign ahead. Looking forward to their first game at home and we’d like to get off to a good start.
“I think Reza’s been good since he’s got here. He’s had chances to score, he’s hit the post a few times so it’s great that he scored that goal on the weekend. I thought it was a wonderful goal.
“The build up to that goal was really good and his finish was what we expect from him so we expect more goals but we expect from him what we expect from everyone else who works hard on the team and to do the job for the team first.”
Sydney FC kick off their 2019 AFC Champions League campaign at home at Jubilee Stadium against Korea Republic powerhouse Ulsan Hyundai FC. With two tickets for $30*, bring your mates and be there to see your Sky Blues face the best in Asia.