Doha: Afshin Ghotbi has termed today's Iran-South Korea quarterfinal as an "Asian classic" but his rival Cho Kwang-rae feels Ghotbi's ‘foul' tactics could deny fans a sure cracker of an Asian Cup match.
While Iran have powered their way to an all-win record in the group stages, the Koreans have improved with every match, but their record in recent times has not been encouraging.
"Despite our poor record, the Korean team keeps changing and developing. It is not important what Afshin knows about," said Cho.
"But they will employ a lot of fouls, that seems to be part of Iran's tactics but it would be much better for fans if they did not resort to fouls," the Korean said, hoping that the standard of refereeing in the knockout stage will improve and they can control the game.
"We have seen them play, analysed them well, our players can show to the world that Korean football is improving," Cho said, adding that though Australia (their group rivals) and Iran play a similar game, the latter were more physical.
Ghotbi, who spoke later, said, "They need to foul us to stop us, we have a better footballing team."
With even his second string displaying a lot of skill and speed, the confident Ghotbi said, "If they had done their job in the group they would not have met us. We will use all our knowledge to get the desired result."
Ghotbi has spent five years in South Korea.
"Their whole staff was there to study our game. Half of their team worked with me in two World Cups and one Asian Cup. I know how they think, how they react on good and bad days," he added.
The Koreans conceded goals in each of their three games including two to India, but Cho said, "Group results do not matter. We conceded goals as our central defenders were eager to show a better display."
"We are one of the strong teams of Asia and it is Iran which is scared of us. We just have to play like how a nation ranked in the top three in Asia plays," Cho said.
