The director himself reduced his sleep. It was an away road where he wanted to win so much.
Coach Lee Jeong-hyo spent time getting to know FC Seoul, even losing sleep. Gwangju, who has been writing a lot of stories this season, was the only opponent they could not overcome, Seoul, and they were especially entangled in controversy, so they made even more preparations.
Gwangju finally captured Seoul. In the 30th round of Hana One Q K League 1 2023 held at Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 17th, they saved Heo Yul’s winning goal in the 4th minute of the first half and defeated Seoul 1-0.
With this win, Gwangju continued its run of undefeated (5 wins, 5 draws) for 10 consecutive league games. Thanks to winning the match against Seoul, which was tied for 3rd and 4th place, Gwangju secured 3rd place with 13 wins, 9 draws, and 8 losses (48 points), and widened the gap with Seoul (43 points) to 5 points.
Gwangju, which moved up to K League 1 this year, clashed with Seoul quite often. The battle of spirit was great from the first match last March. At the time, Gwangju was leading the game at home, but the score ended up being 0-2. Coach Lee Jeong-hyo, who judged that everything was thrown into disarray due to Uhm Seong-seong’s sending off, caused quite a bit of controversy when he honestly expressed his feelings, saying, “I am angry that we lost to a team that plays soccer like that.”
Whether intentional or not, Director Lee Jeong-hyo’s words set Gwangju and Seoul on fire. In the second match in May, Gwangju lost 1-3 to Seoul. In this process, the mannerism situation in the second half escalated significantly. The ball was sent out when the Seoul player fell. In this case, the opposing team handed over possession again, and Gwangju proceeded with the play. In this area, differences of opinion between Gwangju and Seoul arose, causing friction.
Since there was some confusion due to the poor result against Seoul, Coach Lee Jeong-hyo had a strong desire to overcome it in many ways. He didn’t even close his eyes as he was analyzing Seoul and preparing for it. He explained the preparation process, saying, “Normally, I sleep well because I prepare all the time the day before the game. But this time, I was restless because I didn’t think I could sleep if I lost.”
Director Lee Jeong-hyo chose practicality rather than usual. After the coach change, Seoul had more freedom and there were more players to score goals, so we paid more attention to defense. They did not hesitate to bring back Lee Soon-min, Uhm Seong-seong, and Heo Yul, who returned after being called up to national teams at each level due to the international break, to fit the Gwangju tactics.
In particular, regarding Lee Sun-min, who was excited about his A-match debut, he said, “I feel like I’ve been reset after playing for the national team,” and “I gave him feedback to reset his offensive and defensive positions. I scolded him a little.” The instructions were the same for Heo Yul, who scored the winning goal that day. Heo Yul also confessed, “I received a lot of criticism from the coach while preparing for the Seoul match after returning from the Olympic team. 온라인카지노 I was told about my defensive position.”
That’s how Gwangju gritted its teeth against Seoul. Four minutes into the game, Doo Hyun-seok caught the ball on the left and passed it to Ha Seung-woon, who was in the penalty box. Ha Seung-woon’s judgment was good. Rather than holding the ball, he took advantage of the flow and delivered a heel pass to the front of the goal. Heo Yul’s promised moves were added to Ha Seung-woon’s sparkling play. Heo Yul penetrated straight into the goal area and succeeded in scoring the first goal with a left-footed shot.
This was Gwangju’s only effective shot. Normally, Gwangju would have raised their line and focused on attack, but they used the lessons they learned from losing twice to Seoul. Of course, when the ball was taken with strong pressure, the movement of quickly counterattacking showed Gwangju’s style, but it was somewhat stable.
In the end, there was a big difference in the number of shots on target (3 to 18) and the number of effective shots (1 to 9) during the 90 minutes of regular time. Nevertheless, Gwangju succeeded in blocking Seoul’s attack by conceding no points. In the second half, every time Seoul mobilized all of its offensive resources, including Ilyuchenko, Willian, Han Seung-gyu, and Ji Dong-won, he responded with customized replacement cards, clearly showing how well coach Lee Jeong-hyo analyzed Seoul.
Gwangju, which captured Seoul, is walking on Tantandaero. This season, the promoted team created a sensation and set new K-League 1 records for most wins (13 wins) and most points (48 points) in a season. At this level, it is enough to talk about the next goal. In general, I think about advancing to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League next year.
However, Director Lee Jeong-hyo further criticized the team, saying, “There is still a long way to go. It is not enough.” With Coach Lee Jeong-hyo tightening the tension, the team’s momentum is sky-high.
Heo Yul said, “All of the players’ confidence has increased a lot. Our goal is to play good soccer worthy of third place. We are undefeated in 10 games, and this is the result of our confidence in the soccer we have played so far. Personally, as a player, the best growth has been through encounters and failures.” “I think it’s grown,” he said of the changed atmosphere in Gwangju.
The seal-breaking in Gwangju continues. The next opponent is Jeonbuk Hyundai, a top ranked team. Although the number of players available in the midfield has been affected due to Lee Hee-gyun’s injury, Gwangju’s progress is even more noteworthy as coach Lee Jeon