After defeating Spanish powerhouse Atletico Madrid, Team Korea’s head coach Hong Myung-bo applauded his players for giving it their all on the field.
When he heard the Ulsan Hyundai chant “Goodbye” from the stands just before the end of the game, he said, “I thought it was Ulsan. I was happy to win, but I was even happier to hear ‘Goodbye’ at the end,” he said with a smile.
Team K-League came from behind to win 3-2 in the first leg of the Coupang Series against Team K-League at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 27th, thanks to Lee Sun-min’s goal just before the end of the game.
Down 0-1 at halftime, Team K-League equalized early in the second half through Anton’s header. After conceding a goal back to AT Madrid, Team K-League secured a thrilling victory with Palošević’s penalty kick goal and Lee Soon-min’s winner in the final minute.
At the post-match press conference, Coach Hong said, “I’m very happy to win in front of a large crowd,” and added, “We had a lot of fans who supported us, and we were able to win with an upset goal without giving up until the end. I would like to thank the fans.”
He praised goalkeeper Lee Chang-geun, who made a great save in the first half.
“The fact that we only conceded one goal in the first half thanks to Lee Chang-geun’s save was a big motivation for us going into the second half,” said Hong. “We thought we could turn the game around if we had experienced players in the second half and the opponent changed players, and it worked out well.”
Hong Myung-bo used a mostly domestic lineup in the first half and a mostly foreign lineup in the second half.
“We only had about an hour of training, so it wasn’t easy to bring much to the game,” he said. “The important thing was communication. We could have mixed up the positions, but we thought it would be more efficient to do it separately for better communication.”
“Overall, it was good to see the players give their all for 45 minutes for the team.”
Team K-League struggled in the first half against AT Madrid’s 먹튀검증 main players. When asked about his halftime instructions, Hong said, “I told them not to give up. I also told them to prepare for set plays. I told them to be calm because we can score enough goals in the second half.”
Hong, who was accompanied by a power analyst and put his heart and soul into the game, said, “We wanted to know their style of play. I also asked the players to give their best, even though it’s not easy in reality.”
After the game, Simeone was very unhappy with the call and quickly walked into the locker room without shaking hands with his opponent. “It’s a friendly game, why should we be unhappy with the referee,” Hong said.
“They were out of our league,” he said, “especially in the first half. I felt they were a very well-organized team.”
Hong smiled as he recalled the “goodbye” chants from the stands after the game.
“I thought it was Ulsan,” he said. “There were a lot of lights and it was very nice. “I thought it was Ulsan,” he said. “There were a lot of lights and it was very nice.