On the first day of the Chuseok holiday, it was a nightmarish day for Kim Sang-joon and Suwon Samsung. He met again Cheonan City FC, who had a come-from-behind goal and brought victory. It was a must-win game, but when he opened the lid, he was a tough opponent. From the beginning of the first half, he was dragged away by allowing the first goal by Cheonan’s ace, Mota. As Lee Jong-sung, who started in the process of losing a point, suffered an ankle injury, Kim Sang-joon had to go to the ground without warming up properly.
Then, in the second half, Paulino hit an equalizer to put a dagger in his old team, and a variable occurred in the 44th minute of the second half, when he was hoping for victory. Baek Dong-gyu stepped on Moda and received a red card. It was the defender’s exit when all the available resources had already been used.
In a desperate crisis, Byeon Sung-hwan decided to lower midfielder Kim Sang-joon as center back. He chose this tactic because he trusted the multi-talented Kim Sang-joon. However, Tungara’s cross was connected to Mota in the extra time of the second half, before he could take the center back position, and his bullet-like header flew towards Kim Sang-joon. He desperately put his foot on the fence to prevent the loss, but the ball swung wildly and the game ended. When Kim Sang-joon scored an additional goal after a one-on-two loss, he couldn’t get up for a while, holding his head. Kim Sang-joon recalled that time.
“When that cross went over to Mota, I thought if I had reacted faster and narrowed the angle a little bit into the net, it would have been enough to clear it, but I think I was a little complacent. But I couldn’t help but put my foot on it in that situation. I think I’ll do the same if the same situation comes up.”
Immediately after the whistle at the end of the game, Mir Stadium was in a moment of silence. As soon as he realized that he had to prepare for the promotion play-off, which was the deadliest defeat in the direct promotion fight, Kim Sang-joon confessed, “I only talked with my heart to win the game, and I also participated in the team meeting before the game, but I don’t think soccer was my way.”
If it was Suwon before, it would have lost power and collapsed. The nightmare of falling into a losing streak in April in the first half could be reproduced. However, manager Byun Sung-hwan’s Suwon was different. Kim Sang-joon explained, “There were messages that the coach gave me in the locker room after the game, and there were messages that the players wanted to convey. Me, (Kang), Hyun-mook, and (Hong) Won-jin received feedback from our seniors, and we added the parts that we received and felt ourselves to bring together the younger players and talk together again.” 메이저놀이터
Kim Sang-joon was deeply saddened by the match between Seongnam and return match at Tancheon Sports Complex, which marked the first starting point of “nightmare in May.” Kim started training with a renewed mind and determination, and warmed up on the bench to await orders from coach Byun Sung-hwan to play. Kim Sang-joon, who replaced Peter in the 34th minute of the second half when the score was tied 1-on-1, played a leading role in producing a come-from-behind victory with a heavy play in the midfielder. Kim bowed his head in the match against Cheonan, and blew away the Chuseok nightmare by roaring at the whistle.
Kim Sang-joon said, “We prepared a little differently ahead of the match against Seongnam, but we took the game with difficulty by giving up the first run. Still, I think it was important for us to take one more step together so that we can create the power to turn it around in the second half without giving up together, and I really want to play in the next game.”