After pulling Ulsan HD out of the winless doldrums, acting head coach Lee Kyung-soo has promised to keep up the good work for the rest of the season.
Ulsan won 1-0 at home against FC Seoul in the 23rd round of the Hana Bank K League 1 2024 at the Munsu Football Stadium on Wednesday, thanks to a late injury-time goal from Lee Min-kyu. With the three points, Ulsan reclaimed the top spot (12W6D5L – 42 points), while Seoul remained in sixth place (8W6D9L – 30 points).
The home side Ulsan lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Cho Hyun-woo pulled on the goalkeeping gloves. Yoon Il-Rok, Kim Ki-Hee, Lim Jong-Jong, and Lee Myung-Jae defended. Bojanic and Ko Seung-beom were in the back three, while Ataru, Uhm Won-sang, and Kang Yoon-gu were the secondary options. Jeong Woo-young, who made his debut in the previous match, was on the bench for the second half.
The game was dominated by Seoul. They pushed Ulsan all over the field and pounded on the goal, but Cho Hyun-woo was there to keep them in the game. He made numerous saves to keep Ulsan out of trouble.
In the end, it was goal difference that decided the match. As stoppage time expired, Ulsan striker Lee Min-gyu found the back of the net for Seoul. It was Ulsan’s first win in four games after three consecutive draws under Hong. At the same time, they extended their unbeaten record against Seoul to 21 matches.
Ulsan is in the midst of a coaching crisis. Hong Myung-bo, who led Ulsan to its first league title in 17 years and the club’s first back-to-back titles in the past three and a half years, has left for the national team.
Hong relinquished the reins after the match against Gwangju FC on Oct. 10 and left for the national team. Ulsan announced in a press release on Nov. 11 that it had terminated Hong’s contract by mutual consent. Head coach Lee Kyung-soo will serve as acting head coach until a permanent replacement is found.
Lee has 12 years of coaching experience at his alma mater, Soongsil 해외 카지노 사이트 University. Since 2020, he has been the head coach and scout at Suwon Samsung. He joined Ulsan last year and assisted Hong as an assistant coach.
Ulsan suddenly lost their head coach after a three-match winless streak. Lee was tasked with quickly turning things around and reorganizing the team, but the team got off to a good start by beating Seoul in the first match.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Lee said, “It’s encouraging to get the win as the players were struggling physically across the board. We’ve been having some issues with our defense lately, so I think the things we worked on in the meetings paid off in the game. I’m grateful to the players.”
“We shared the videos of the last game with the players. We talked about what we can do. I think they understood what they needed to do, and I think we communicated with them a lot, so I think they prepared well to play a good game,” he concluded.
“I’ve been at the university for a long time, and I’ve been the head coach of the Universiade, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in this kind of atmosphere. The crowd, fan response, and other aspects were incomparable, so it was a fantastic atmosphere that I will never forget.”
Ulsan will play Incheon United in the Korea Cup in midweek. “I think it’s tough for all teams to play in such a tight schedule. The players are playing a lot of minutes, but there are recovery players and players returning from injury, so I think if we rotate them, it will give us a chance to move up a little bit.”
On the fitness of Hwang Seok-ho, Kim Young-kwon, and Rubixson, “All three are rehabbing. Hwang Seok-ho is doing physical training to improve his game. I think he’ll be back soon. For Rubikson and Kim, I think it will be in late July or early August.”