Gwangju FC & Lee Jung-hyo from Shin Tae-yong's view of 'ACL winning experience'..."You must be disappointed. 'Oil Money' is so powerful"
Gwangju FC & Lee Jung-hyo from Shin Tae-yong's view of 'ACL winning experience'..."You must be disappointed. 'Oil Money' is so powerful"
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Shin Tae-yong, Seongnam FC's general manager, replied to coach Lee Jung-hyo and Gwangju FC's challenge to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League. About 10 days have passed since the game ended, and Gwangju has even played the K League 1 schedule in the meantime. It's already been a while, but I asked for the opinion of the coach who experienced winning the Champions League.
Gwangju lost 0-7 to Al Hilal in the quarterfinals of the 2024-25 AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) at Jeddah King Abdullah Sports City in Saudi Arabia on the 26th of last month. A match that was different in weight class. Saudi Arabia has been developing the soccer industry with aggressive investments since 2023 and has created the competitiveness of its own league by recruiting a large number of players who have been active in European soccer. Al Hilal had top-notch players including João Cancelo, Sergei Milenkovic Savic, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Yasin Bunu, and defeated Gwangju by starting nine European players out of 11 in the match against Gwangju.
It was a shocking score, but there was little criticism against Gwangju's challenge. Gwangju, which participated in the ACLE as a provincial team, showed a sensation from the East Asian League stage and headed to the finals in fourth place. In the round of 16, he wrote "Miracle in Gwangju" against Vissel Kobe in the Japanese J-League, confirming his trip to the Saudi Jeddah. Coach Lee Jung-hyo tried to beat Al Hilal, throwing out his bid of "X-bar or X-bar." It seemed to collapse with a loss in the early hours after kickoff, but until the end, coach Lee Jung-hyo and Gwangju did their best by playing the soccer they had been pursuing.
Shin Tae-yong applauded coach Lee Jung-hyo and Gwangju for their challenge. Shin Tae-yong was appointed as Seongnam FC's part-time head last month. After a short break after leaving Indonesia, he returned to his former team, Seongnam, and chose to become an administrator. In the past, he led Seongnam to win the ACL in 2010. It was 15 years ago, but he spent his best year leading Seongnam Ilhwacheonma to the top in Asia.
Looking at the ACLE stage this season, Shin Tae-yong, the general manager, said, "Gwangju and Lee Jung-hyo did quite well. Manager Lee Jung-hyo must have used his strength to analyze the opponent. I think we hit too hard. There are many teams with good individual skills in Saudi teams. I thought about what it would have been like to break the opponent's rhythm while keeping the score in the first half, aiming for a counterattack. As a result, even if Gwangju lost, I thought I could have scored three to four goals. Manager Lee Jung-hyo has such good tactics. "I wish I had prepared more calmly in the match. I think I will have some regrets." 메이저놀이터
Gwangju's challenge rang alarm bells in the K-League stage. They were able to confirm the gap between West and East Asia, and the location of K-League teams in East Asia. Shin Tae-yong, the head of the team, said, "Professional players are money. Saudi Arabia has a strong sense of 'oil money'. As the team pushed hard in the investment sector, I believed East Asia was losing ground. It is not a part that can be won with mental strength and skills. We need to prepare for the event with a certain budget. Players' ransom is 10 times higher than ours. Both in terms of conditions and environment are stronger than ours. That's why we need to focus more investment and management."