There is no time to feel sorry. Ulsan HD’s season is not over yet.
Ulsan, the champion of the K-League 1, is struggling in the elite of the Asian Football Confederation Champions League this season. It lost all five of its East Asian group stage matches. Ulsan is the only team among the 12 teams that failed to accumulate points. It lost 1-3 to the Shanghai Port (China) at its home on Tuesday. As the K-League 1 championship team, it will inevitably hurt its pride.
Whenever a player enters the Champions League, he or she will struggle. In the match against Shanghai, he enjoyed numerical advantage due to the exit of the opponent team’s defender in the first half, but lost by a gap of two goals. He dominated the game and was on the offensive, but struggled to score points. He managed to score his first goal in this season’s Champions League, but that was it.
In the K-League 1, Ulsan showed strong performance. In the 13 games it played since Kim Pan-gon took the helm, the team garnered nine wins, three draws and one loss to win three consecutive games. However, the team is struggling in the Champions League.
It is a mystery. Gwangju FC, which finished the K-League 1 in ninth place this season, has shown strong performance in the Champions League on the contrary. It had three wins and one loss in the first to fourth games. It is highly likely to advance to the tournament round. The situation is quite the opposite of Ulsan.
Coach Kim also has many concerns as he has yet to find a clear cause. “I also want to know why it is like this. The teams we met are good in each country, but I don’t think we have good performances that Ulsan has shown in the past,” Kim said after the match against Shanghai. “We went all out because the K-League ended. Even if we take the injury issue out, we should be in better condition, but it was difficult. Even if we play with the mindset of losing all five games, we will not likely lose like this. We have expectations from fans and our position. I don’t know how to say this,” he said, expressing bewilderment.
It is a kind of trial and error. Coach Kim, who led the Malaysian national team until last summer, returned to the club after a long time. It is also true that he put less weight on the Champions League because he made all-out efforts to win the K-League 1.
There is still an important schedule to be frustrated by the poor performance in the Champions League. It is the Korea Cup final. Ulsan will play the final match against its rival Pohang Steelers at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Wednesday. If it wins here, it will achieve two championships and a double in one season. It can make up for its failure to show good results in the Champions League. 스포츠토토
For now, it is urgent to change the mood. The urgent priority is to elevate the mood of the team, which has been stagnant due to five consecutive losses in the Champions League. “I have an important game on Saturday. The will of the players is important. If I want to do it, I will do my best,” Kim said, adding, “I have a lot of conversations with the players. I feel that the players have strong will. I will clean up today’s game well, recover and do my best in the finals,” vowing to win the title.