The Suwon Bluewings player is ready to brush away the cowebs after their season has been impacted by the recent outbreak of the virus.
Australian Adam Taggart banged in 16 goals for Suwon in the K-League last season but has not been able to replicate the same in 2020 but not for the lack of trying. South Korea is among the many countries in the world that has to come face to face with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus and precaution taken meant the postponement of the league schedule.
That means that up until this point, they have only managed to complete one full competitive match, that being the AFC Champions League encounter against Vissel Kobe last month where they lost 0-1 at home. While hoping that the situation could have been different, Taggart knows that things are out of his control and he just have to get on with things.
“It’s always good to play more competitive matches. Our season finished in the last week of December and we’re right back in early January, so we’ve had a long time preparing for these games. We had a match against Kobe last week so it’s at that point where we are keen to play more professional games but we can’t do much about the virus.
“We won’t underestimate Johor. They are obviously a great side with big crowds and nice stadium. They have a good mix of foreign and local players. I think it’s going to be a tough match. I don’t the 5-0 defeat to Kobe can be read much. When they are at home, they are going to be a very challenging opponent,” Taggart in the pre-match press conference on Monday.
Meanwhile his coach Lee Lim-saeng has been putting in the hours to watch Johor Darul Ta’zim to prepared for their Tuesday clash at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium. The former South Korea international accepts the difficulties in preparing his team in terms of match fitness but has already earmarked Diogo Luis Santo, La’Vere Corbin-Ong and Safawi Rasid as key players in the JDT side.
“I think Johor is a good team and I respect them for being six times champions of Malaysia. We postponed the K-League because of the problem with virus (COVID-19). We have to adapt to the situation but hopefully it will be okay in the future. We’ve only played one game against Kobe and then tomorrow, Johor.
“I’ve watch them and also visited Japan to watch them against Kobe. I also heard that Johor have eight foreign players. The striker number eight is dangerous, the left full back and the right wing who is local is very good. These are the ones we’re looking at,”
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