“I think it’s hard to say retirement.”
All surrounding members moved thinking of retirement, but the person avoided the word “retirement.”
Ulsan HD playing coach Park Joo-young, who dominated an era of Korean soccer, replaced Kang Yoon-gu in the 32nd minute of the first half in the 37th round of the Hana Bank K League 1 2024 Final A away game in FC Seoul at Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 10th, gave Lee Chung-yong a chance after the start of the second half and retreated to the bench.
He had 76 goals and 23 assists in 285 K-League matches (65 goals and 21 assists in 260 K-League matches, 1 goal and 1 assist in 3 playoff matches, 10 goals and 1 assist in 22 League Cup matches). He has not played since the match against Jeju United on Oct. 23, 2022, but was on the substitution list on the day.
Before the game, Ulsan coach Kim Pan-gon said, “The best attendance and captain’s team came to me and wanted Park Chu-young to play in the match against Seoul,” hoping to give him a chance to play because there is a common denominator who played in Seoul and Ulsan.
“Park Joo-young has conveyed his desire to retire at the end of this season. In fact, he was preparing for an event (related with retirement ceremony) for the final home match against Suwon FC. I didn’t expect (to play in the match against Seoul). However, top-ranked players suddenly came and suggested, “Why don’t you give Joo-young an opportunity to say hello to his fans in Seoul?” He replied, “I will check if it was his idea and make the decision after reviewing with the coaching staff.”
When Park Chu-young stepped on the ground as a substitute, fans from both teams burst into applause. Just in time, Ko Seung-beom’s first goal was scored, and Park Chu-young also had a chance to celebrate together.
However, Park did not seem to have wanted to formalize the term “retirement.” He said, “I want to say thank you to the players a lot. In fact, I was not ready at all because I didn’t think I was entering the game. It wasn’t even something I wanted. In fact, the players gathered their hearts and helped me and told the coach. I was touched to see the coach and the coaching staff listen to it.”
It was a picture made by the players’ suggestion. “It was done after hearing from the coach. I also rushed to bring my uniform when I was not ready. I felt sorry the most. There is no such thing as individual players’ positions. Everyone wants to play, so I felt sorry for taking the position. Still, the players understood me well and helped me, so I had a good time,” he said.
It is not common to run while receiving applause from home and away fans. “I wasn’t in a particular mood. Actually, we already had a lot of time. I didn’t feel anything strange because we had a lot of preparations for something. I think I played the game as if I was having fun exercising as usual,” Park said, displaying his unique calm reaction.
Park said, “I don’t think it’s going to be easy to say that I’m going to retire. Actually, I don’t want to comment on that because I don’t know what will happen. I think (retirement) will come naturally. If I stop, 메이저사이트 it’s meaningful, so I don’t think I need to call it retirement,” he said, reluctant to formalize his retirement.
Regarding the conversation between Lee Chung-yong and Ki Sung-yueng (FC Seoul), who are playing together at the same time, he said, “It’s not a special story. Ki said, “(Ki) Sung-yong seems to be in great shape, so I think he can play more games. He also gave me good words.”
Park said, “I have some more games to play for now. I also have the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) left. I will prepare to help the players silently and further so that they can show the best results in those games.”