Welcome, Man-U!

The Manchester United squad, the champions of the Premier League, entered Korea yesterday. In the opening match of its Asian tour, Manchester United drew 2:2 against Urawa Red Diamond, this year’s champion of the J-league. United is slated to have a friendly match with FC Seoul in Seoul World Cup Stadium on Friday.

At Incheon International Airport, some 300 fans drummed and shouted after some two hours of waiting to welcome the squad, led by director Alex Ferguson in black suit and red tie, followed by Wayne Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo, Edwin Van Der Sar, Ryan Giggs, and Rio Ferdinand, as well as Owen Hargreaves and Nani, who newly signed for Manchester this summer.

At the airport, they headed for Hotel Shilla in three buses, surrounded by 70 bodyguards and some 50 police officers.

Their first official schedule was a press conference held at the hotel at 7:00 p.m. on the same day. They will also attend the book launch ceremony for Man-U Opus, a book about the prestigious team’s history. Park, the only Korean player to play for the Manchester, will open a soccer class for children with three other team members at Cheong-gu Elementary School located in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul today.

Meanwhile, Director Ferguson made an interesting remark about Park during the press conference held in Tokyo. “If you want to join Manchester United, you need to take steps like Park,” he said. “We may need more Asian players, but it is difficult to make an estimation of players with only an Asian league career. Park proved himself at PSV Einthoven of the Netherlands. That’s what other Asian players need to do if they want to join Manchester United.”

Manchester will leave Korea on Saturday for Macau and China, where it will have two more friendly matches before going back home.

kimsk@donga.com