AFTER the heartbreak of their Hyundai A-League exit on penalties to Perth Glory on Saturday evening, Central Coast Mariners are this morning settling into their hotel in downtown Suwon, Korea Republic, in preparation for AFC Champions League matchday 4.
Phil Moss, John Crawley & Tony Walmsley in Suwon
AFTER the heartbreak of their Hyundai A-League exit on penalties to Perth Glory on Saturday evening, Central Coast Mariners are this morning settling into their hotel in downtown Suwon, Korea Republic, in preparation for AFC Champions League matchday 4.
After a day of travel, the Mariners arrived in Suwon at 10pm on Sunday evening, and after a light meal the travelling squad headed direct to bed for some much required rest.
In good spirits despite the disappointment of falling just short of qualification for back-to-back Hyundai A-League Grand Finals, the team will have their first training run in Korea Republic on Monday afternoon at 4pm local time.
The Mariners challenge Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma on Wednesday 18 April at Tancheon Sports Complex, Seongnam, with kick-off at 7:30pm local time (8:30pm AEST).
Mariners National Youth League (NYL) Head Coach, Tony Walmsley, has been in Korea since Friday to ensure the teams arrangements, including transfers, meals and training facilities, are satisfactory in order to give Graham Arnold-s men the best opportunity possible to defeat Seongnam.
And late on Sunday night Walmsley said he was confident everything would run smoothly throughout the teams’ time in Korea.
“Seongnam have looked after me very well,” Walmsley said. “Today we went to see the training venue which is FC Seoul’s old ground.”
Impressed by the standard of the facility, Walmsley added: “It-s a little bit flattering that they would let us train in a Stadium like that just a for non-official training session.”
The NYL mentor took time to praise the hotel Seongnam had provided for the club, as well as the helpful schedule put in place for the next four days.
“It-s a very pleasant hotel, the food is top notch, so the players are going to be well looked after here,” he said.
“We-re in the middle of town, in the middle of Suwon city, so there is plenty to do in their down time.”
“We-ve got all our logistics in place, so it-s full systems go from here,” he concluded.
Central Coast Mariners AFC Champions League Group G Matchday 4 clash with Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma will be shown LIVE on Fox Sports 1 from 8:30pm (AEST) this Wednesday 18 April. Coast FM will also call the contest from Korea – listen on 96.3FM or stream online at www.coastfm.org.au
Check in with ccmariners.com.au over the coming days as we bring you content from inside the camp in Korea.
2012 AFC Champions League – Group G – Matchday 4
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma vs. Central Coast Mariners
Tancheon Sports Complex, Seongnam
Kick-off: 7:30pm (local); 8:30pm (AEST)
Twitter: Join the match conversation on Twitter! The official match hash-tag is #ACLseoccm
