"For every team, we can make it difficult now": Lars Veldwijk Interview

Wednesday evening sees Suwon FC look to continue their fine form when they welcome reigning champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to Suwon. Leading the Suwon line and also the goalscoring charts is former Jeonbuk striker Lars Veldwijk. Speaking with K League United's Matthew Binns as part of a larger interview for this week's K League United Podcast, the Bafana Bafana forward touches on being reunited with his former teammates and the challenge that faces his side midweek.

Having traveled south and stunned Asian Champions Ulsan Hyundai by the tune of five goals to two last time out, Suwon FC find themselves heading into their match against K League 1 champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors as the in-form team and have the potential to cause another upset given that their opponents have yet to return to action since the mid-season interval.

Grabbing the headlines in Ulsan was South African forward and former Jeonbuk striker Lars Veldwijk, who scored four of Suwon's five goals while assisting the other, seeing him rocket to the summit of the Golden Boot leaderboard. Having not yet faced his former employers since his move last summer, could Veldwijk cause the Green Warriors issues on Wednesday.

🎥 HIGHLIGHTS | Ulsan Hyundai 2-5 Suwon FC

🇿🇦 @BafanaBafana striker @LarsVeldwijk scores 4⃣ as Suwon FC put the Asian Champions to the sword!#KLeague | #K리그 | #ULSvSUW pic.twitter.com/3E6zGGKC1B

— K League (@kleague) July 25, 2021

Below is a snippet of an upcoming interview for the K League United Podcast and KLeague.com focusing on reuniting with former Jeonbuk teammate Murilo and Suwon's chances against the North Jeolla side. 

Matthew Binns: This season, you've been reunited with one of your former teammates in Murilo. He seems to have taken to life at Suwon FC really well with seven assists. How much of a difference has his arrival had at the club?

Lars Veldwijk: A lot. I knew Murilo from my time with Jeonbuk and I was really happy when the club told me they were trying to sign him. They asked me some things about him like how he is as a person and he's really a fantastic player but also a fantastic person off the pitch. I'm really happy that he joined the club and we work very hard together and we speak a lot about football and our families and all of these things. We are really close and I think you can see that on the pitch as well.

MB: Speaking of Jeonbuk, it's your next match. You will be coming up against them on Wednesday. It's actually the first time that you will have played against them [since leaving]. Jeonbuk are in a similar situation to Ulsan as in it is going to be their first game back after a long spell away. Do you think Suwon FC could take advantage of this?

LW: I think [we can] for sure. You saw at Ulsan that it was their first game after the ACL and after they'd came back to Korea, so I think we can have a good chance and I still have many friends at Jeonbuk so I'm really looking forward to this game. They are also missing some players who are at the Olympics. Of course [we can win], what I think, for every team, we can make it difficult now.

MB: Are you looking forward to testing your former teammates, especially that defence, which you should be familiar with from your time there?

LW: Yes, they almost have the same team as last year so I know almost every one of them, with a few of them still in contact [with me] on a daily basis. So, I'm really looking forward to this game and I can't wait until it's Wednesday.

Suwon FC face Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors at 7:30pm KST this Wednesday evening

Tune in live on TV.KLeague.com

The full interview can be found on this week's K League United Podcast and on KLeague.com