You began the season with back-to-back wins and two straight cleansheets. You must have been very happy with how FC Anyang started the season?

For us, the most important thing is the cleansheets, you know? Because, they say 'the best way to attack is to have the best defence' so we're working on defence, we worked pretty hard in preseason on defence and we are really happy that we had two games where we didn't concede a goal so we will keep on working and see how it goes.

In the first game of the season, you got the assist for Jonathan Moya's goal but the way that you celebrated was like it was like your goal. There seems to be a really good team atmosphere here at FC Anyang? 

Yes, you know, in our team right now, it doesn't matter who scores. For us, the most important thing is we win the game so if it's (Kim) Kyung-joong who scores or (Hong) Chang-beom who scores, we all celebrate like we've scored. You can see in the clip that I almost broke my shoulder celebrating so hard, you know, so we are really happy, we have very good chemistry. So we're just hoping to play every game like the first and second games and hopefully, we'll get the three points.

In the second game, Jonathan Moya won the penalty, but you picked the ball up first and there was some smiling and you said some things to each other. What did you say? And were you hoping that he was going to let you take it?

No, actually, we discussed about that, you know, and we decided to play rock paper scissors. So I picked the ball and I gave him the ball and asked if he was confident to shoot it and he said yes. And I said okay, then you go ahead, you shoot it. And he said, Okay, I'll shoot this one and then the next time you're gonna shoot.

Last year, it was things were didn't end the way that you wanted it to with the playoffs but you came so close, I'm sure you'll be more determined this year to make sure that you don't do the same thing again and go one better?

Yeah. I mean, last season still hurts. It's so hard because we were really close. It was a really big opportunity for us. But as everybody knows, we couldn't make it because we had some bad games, and we lost some points which were really important for us. But this season, the team is better than last year, the chemistry is really good. We are really working really hard. So we have a big, big chance to go up this season and we'll make sure we take the chance.

Looking on the bright side of things, you finished second last season. That was the highest ever in FC Anyang history. Have you had time to appreciate that yet? Or are you still thinking about what might have been?

The job is not done. I came to Anyang because I wanted to help the team get to K League 1. So still the job is not done. If you go K League 1 then I can just sit back, relax and enjoy the moment. But until then the job is not done. So we'll keep on fighting.

Going back to when you first came to FC Anyang, where did the move come from? You spent a lot of time in Europe in Italy and Croatia, why the sudden move to Asia and K League?

I spent 10 years in Italy and then three years in Croatia and then I had the opportunity to come to Asia. And I had some clubs from China (interested), I have some clubs from Dubai, some clubs from America but I was curious about coming to Korea because of the culture. I have some friends who played in Korea (Jason Davidson, Mislav Oršić). I played all my life in Europe, and I needed to change. I needed new motivations, I needed new challenges so I decided to come to Asia. I had some other clubs also in Korea, but I decided to come to Anyang because of the project and the ambitions they had. And I felt that I could fit in really well here and help the club to go to achieve their aim. That's what we are still trying to do.

What was the hardest thing for you to get used to at first, both in Korea and in terms of football as well?

In terms of football, I mean, for 16 years, I wasn't playing football so in the beginning, it was really hard because I had no idea what it was all about. I didn't know what was offside  I didn't know nothing, actually. So I had to learn technically, physically, tactically - I had to learn literally everything. So I was really lucky to go to Italy, where, you know, they play a lot of their football, tactical, it's all about tactical, so I learned a lot when I was 16, 17. And in Korea, what I learned was to play real physical, you know, because till then I was playing just with my speed and creating spaces. But in Korea, there's a lot of physicals so you have to be physically prepared to be able to excel in K League, I think.

In Italy, defending is an art form. It must have been a very good learning experience for you to play against some of the best defenders in the world?

Yeah, I did it. I had really good experiences playing with most of the top defenders in the world; Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, just to mention a few. You learn a lot of things playing with these guys because they don't give you the chance to think or breathe, they don't give you any space. So I learned really much from playing in Italy, in Croatia, as well. Playing in Italy, either you are technically good, or you are really fast, if not, is difficult. If you're fast, then you just push the ball forward and just run after it. If not I don't know because tactically they're really good. This is one of the countries that they defend really well, you can see from the national team, so it's very difficult to score against them. So you have to be fast, super-fast to score against them or be technically good. So I think I had a really good experience in Italy. And definitely, I'll go back one day to Italy.

Finally, what's the FC Anyang head coach like to work with? Is he tactical? Is he a motivator?

He's both of them. The head coach and his staff. He is tactical but he's also a motivational person. He just wants you to feel good on the pitch. He just wants you to feel comfortable on the pitch and do what you like to do which is really important for us.

Paul Neat
Managing Editor