Sports Korea reporter Kim Seong-soo] FC Seoul coach Kim Ki-dong apologized to the players. The comment came from the manager, who missed the victory that he grabbed in the previous game, which was unexpected.
However, his decision finally hit the bull’s eye. The coach’s decision, which he made for the sake of the players instead of sticking to his own direction, returned to Seoul in a “spring breeze.”
Seoul won a landslide 5-1 victory over Gimcheon Sangmu in the fifth round of the K League 1 2024 at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The victory was the most since Kim Ki-dong took the helm.
Jo Young-wook, who is facing Gimcheon for the first time since his discharge from the military, coincidentally became the first player to score the first goal. In the 15th minute of the first half, Ilyushchenko held on to the defense in the Gimcheon penalty box and received a cross from the left side. When Ilyushchenko rushed the pass that he gave with his left foot and took a right-footed shot, it hit the bottom left corner of the goal and became Seoul’s first goal. Lee displayed “the taste of society” to his successors who visited Seoul.
However, Gimcheon showed more presence than his senior. In the 33rd minute of the first half, foreign midfielder Palosevic pressed Gimcheon defender Kim Bong-soo from the right side to bring the ball home. Afterwards, Lim Sang-hyeop, who received Palosevic’s pass from the right side of the box, slidably fell and pushed the ball home with his left foot. Seoul’s 2-0 lead.
Ilyushchenko scored multiple goals in the 38th minute of the first half when he finished with his right foot a low cross that Ki Sung-yueng sent from the left side to the gate during Seoul’s counterattack. Ilyushchenko also added an assist when Lim Sang-hyup’s right-footed shot from the left side passed through players mixed with goalposts and went straight into the bottom right of the goalpost in the first minute of extra time. He garnered two goals and two assists to stand tall in the vanguard of defeating Gimcheon. 핑크알바
Gimcheon recovered a goal in the 7th minute of the second half with Kim Min-joon’s left-footed mid-range shot that hit the crossbar, but that was it. In the 34th minute of the second half, the current Seoul Dongjin Park, who also served in Gimcheon, scored a right-footed wedge to make it 5-1, making his successors cry.
Seoul, which started anew this season under head coach Kim Ki-dong, slowed down to one win, two draws and one loss until the fourth round. Even on March 31, it seemed to win in an away match at Gangwon FC, but lost a point to Lee Sang-hun of Gangwon in the 40th minute of the second half and ended up with a draw with defender Sulaka’s exit.
It could be frustrating for Kim as well. However, Kim said before the match, “I apologized to the players. At a time when the players did not fully understand the basic framework of Kim Ki-dong’s soccer, I thought it might have been confusing because the coach made partial changes to each other,” adding, “I try not to make changes until I fully understand and agree on what kind of soccer players should play.”