“I didn’t want to act like a manager.”
After an abysmal start to the season, Jeonbuk Hyundai, who were forced to pull out manager Kim Sang-sik’s sacking card, have been revitalized. This is the effect of a prepared acting coach.
The leadership of Kim Doo-hyun, 39, who laid down his authority, trusted and motivated the players at their level, has awakened the once defeat-minded Jeonbuk players. After defeating league leader and “Hyundai rival” Ulsan Hyundai in the last round, Jeonbuk is now unbeaten in five matches (3 wins, 2 draws), and even defeated Daegu FC, who were on the rise, to record their first back-to-back wins of the season.
Jeonbuk earned a thrilling 1-0 victory over Daegu FC in the 17th round of the Hana OneQ K League 1 2023 at Jeonju World Cup Stadium on July 7 at 7 p.m., with striker Song Min-gyu scoring a spectacular “wind-up” goal. The victory was quite significant. Jeonbuk won back-to-back games for the first time this season and moved up from 8th to 7th place.
The key to Jeonbuk’s resurgence is arguably the leadership of acting head coach Kim Doo-hyun. “I didn’t want to act like a coach,” Kim said of his steady hand in leading the team ahead of the match against Daegu. “The club assigned me the role of acting head coach from the beginning. I told the players to figure out what they need to do for themselves, not for the coach or the club, and I think they’re doing a good job of fulfilling their roles and getting results, so I think the mood is up,” he said.
Kim’s leadership, in which he completely relinquished his authority as head coach and stood at the same level as the players to remind them of the most important points, has helped Jeonbuk’s players to fight harder.
In this atmosphere, beating league leader Ulsan in the last round was a major turning point. Jeonbuk used a 4-3-3 formation on the day to continue their winning streak. Acting head coach Kim Doo-hyun sent both foreign strikers Gustavo and Hapa Silva to the starting lineup to form an attacking lineup of Song Min-gyu, Gustavo, and Hapa Silva. Oh Jae-hyuk, Park Jin-seop, and Ryu Jae-moon were the midfielders, while the back line consisted of Kim Jin-soo, Jung Tae-wook, and Koo Ja-ryong. Kim Jung-hoon was in goal.
Daegu countered with a 3-4-3 formation. Sejingya, who Choi calls “50% of the team’s strength,” started for the fourth consecutive game.
The first half passed at Daegu’s pace. Their solid defense kept Jeonbuk’s offense at bay. Jeonbuk was disappointed when Hapasilva hit the goalpost with a right-footed shot in the 25th minute. Jeonbuk’s offense was unable to break through Daegu’s defense. The first half ended 0-0.
At the start of the second half, Jeonbuk took off Gustavo and Oh Jae-hyuk and introduced Cho Kyu-sung and Amano Jun to sharpen up the front line. Their addition to the offense gave Jeonbuk some breathing room. In the 12th minute of the second half, Song Min-kyu scored a wind-up goal. Hapa Silva won a contest at the front of the penalty box and passed to Song Min-gyu, who was positioned inside the left box. Song Min-kyu then unleashed a right-footed curling kick into the corner of the opposite goal. It was a beautiful trajectory. Jeonbuk continued to push for more goals, even bringing on Moon Sun-min, but Daegu’s defense was thick. Daegu also had several shots on goal from Sejingya and Vasellus, but goalkeeper Kim Jung-hoon made a series of saves to preserve the victory 메이저사이트.