“As a coach, I apologize for disappointing the fans who came during the holiday season.”
Kim Pan-gon, head coach of Ulsan HD, who lost 0-1 to Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale after a frustrating game at home, bowed his head.
Ulsan lost 0-1 to Kawasaki in the first leg of the 2024-2025 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite (ACLE) League Stage at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on the 18th.
Regardless of the victory or defeat, he consistently played unbelievably frustratingly that the K League 1 defending champion and the current leading team’s performance.
On the last day of the holiday season, Ulsan and coach Kim gave little disappointment to more than 9,000 fans who visited their home stadium through the heat by splitting their precious time.
Coach Kim, who held a press conference after the game, said, “The content and the results… “I apologize as a coach for what disappointed the fans,” he said. “The first half didn’t go well at our disposal. I put more weight on it in the second half, but I lost a point in a bad situation.”
“The players tried hard to make a turnaround, but it wasn’t enough. I apologize for this in the first game. I will do my best in the remaining seven games and bring results,” he said.
“Ulsan is a team that represents the K-League in Asia. We have to show good performances to fans and K-League players to give them pride, but we failed to do so,” Kim said repeatedly.
Ulsan played with a starting lineup that lost a lot of strength. Kim’s plan was to block the opponent well in the first half and bring about a victory by deploying a large number of foreign strikers in the second half.
As the first half ended 0-0, the game seemed to flow as planned by head coach Kim, but he gave up the winning goal to Marcinho in the 9th minute of the second half.
Ulsan eventually lost the game without scoring a goal for the first time since head coach Kim took office.
“We had a bad performance in the first half, but we created a situation in which we would lead in the second half,” coach Kim said. “There were a lot of things that went wrong in the situation of losing points. It’s not a matter of a player playing first.”
In other words, there was no problem with the strategy itself to play in the second half.
Coach Kim also said, “Honestly, I didn’t even think of ‘1’ that I would lose.”
On this day, Munsu Football Stadium was in very bad ground condition like other stadiums where K-League games were held. 먹튀검증
Due to the serious fan of the grass here and there, it was difficult for players to even pass and dribble in bad conditions.
“I don’t think they (managing the grass) can do it with human resources, and I know everyone is struggling and struggling,” coach Kim said. “The players (with bad ground conditions) are struggling. I think we should have been able to play ACLE in a good environment.”