“The team bus must have been blocked a few times…. I got a great boost from your trust and support to the end.”
FC Seoul coach Kim Ki-dong (53) said with a smile, “Looking back on the past year. I remembered the lackluster early days of the season, when I lost in five official matches that were held at home at one point. Fans had high expectations even before the opening of the season, so their disappointment must have been great. Instead of expressing discontent about poor performance, however, Seoul fans silently waited for Kim Ki-dong’s rebound.
Consequently, Seoul has successfully rebounded in the second half of the year. It has advanced to the Final A stage for the first time in five years, and is also close to participating in the AFC Champions League. Kim, who had been desperate enough to say, “If we don’t normalize the team, we will go out on our own,” can now look back on the days with a smile. “Thanks to fans’ long waiting for us, we gained momentum and gained strength in the second half of the year,” Kim Ki-dong said. “This is just the beginning. We will make more efforts to achieve our goals in Seoul.”
Kim Ki Dong-ho, who was disappointed as expected, started Seoul
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pressured. I felt pressured, but I wanted to test myself. I also had confidence in myself, so I think I always spoke with confidence in myself at the press conference. I was more excited about myself than afraid.”
One of the biggest issues in the K-League ahead of the 2024 season was that Kim Ki-dong left Pohang Steelers and took the helm of Seoul. There was also a reinforcement effect, including the recruitment of Jesse Lingard (England) from the English Premier League (EPL), but the biggest reason why Seoul received attention as a team of sensation and a favorite ahead of the opening of this season was the presence of head coach Kim Ki-dong.
Of course, it was not an easy decision for Kim to leave Pohang and take the helm of Seoul. However, he decided that in order to take the manager to the next level, he needed to succeed and prove in a team other than Pohang. If he failed, his coach career could have been missed, but Kim boldly headed to Seoul.
Coach Kim Ki-dong said, “Since I retired from the team called Pohang and even served as a leader there, many people said that Kim Ki-dong is a Pohang man.” He also said, “I would have done that much because it was Pohang,” adding, “I thought I would be recognized only when I showed better performance in the team called Seoul. I think I wanted to challenge myself even more.”
Seoul’s poor performance at the beginning of the season was thus even more shocking.
Kim Ki-dong’s debut match at home, which drew more than 50,000 spectators, ended up with a lethargic performance, and ended up losing five consecutive home games starting in April. Throughout the early and mid-season of the season, Seoul’s K-League 1 performance remained in the middle of the league with four wins, six draws and seven losses. It was disappointing as much as it had high expectations. The audience booed him from the beginning of the season.
“In fact, in the beginning, I expected the team to show poor performance. As we started the winter training in January, the players were not in the team I wanted,” Kim said. “The players’ pie was already big and we had a lot of budget. We couldn’t organize our players, but we weren’t in a situation where we should bring in new players. Eventually, we prepared for the season with the existing players, but the problem was that most of the existing players were not able to play in games. Eventually, we thought that the composition of players should change to some extent, and that the culture of Seoul should change. I thought that it would be difficult until the culture changes.” 메이저사이트
“However, I thought, ‘How bad is this?'” coach Kim said, expressing his frustration with the performance and results that were far worse than expected. “In the first half of the year, I thought it could be difficult, but the team began to falter as an own goal or a mistake came out. I expected it, but it was a time when I thought it would not go this far.”
Fortunately, Kim Ki-dong and his players remained unwavering despite their performance falling far short of expectations, and fans also waited silently for him. This became an important stepping stone for Seoul to make a comeback in the second half of the year.