Thiago (31, Jeonbuk Hyundai), who scored in four months, promised his fans to win.
Jeonbuk Hyundai tied Gwangju FC 1-1 in the 38th round of Hana Bank’s K League 1 2024 Final B at 2 p.m. on the 24th at Gwangju Football Stadium.
Jeonbuk has secured 42 points to maintain its 10th position. Gwangju (47 points) ended the season in ninth place by allowing a come-from-behind victory over Daejeon (48 points) that captured Jeju Island at the same time. Now, Jeonbuk is heading for the promotion and playoffs at the 10th place. Daegu lost to Incheon at the same time, avoiding moving down to 11th place.
Jeonbuk had a fierce battle with Gwangju from the beginning, but its decision-making power was disappointing. Even though it created many good opportunities, it failed to finish many times. The bad luck of Park Jae-yong’s header hitting the crossbar also overlapped.
It was Thiago who broke the 0 balance. He was substituted at the beginning of the second half and scored the first goal with a sophisticated right-footed kick in the 30th minute of the second half. He did not miss Kwon Chang-hoon’s chance to cut the ball off due to forward pressure, and scored a goal for the first time in 128 days since the match against Ulsan on July 20.
However, Jeonbuk lost the title by allowing Shin Chang-moo to score an equalizer on penalties just before the game ended. Still, it is good to see Thiago lay the groundwork for a rebound by scoring. “Thiago was good to tease and fight against his opponent a lot from the front. He must have gained confidence by scoring goals. I think he will be in better condition as he prepares for the next game,” coach Kim Doo-hyun said.
When asked if he knew how long it had been since he scored in the mixed zone after the match, Thiago shook his head. “I didn’t know either. I don’t think I scored for too long,” he said calmly after showing his record in four months.
Thiago was hoping to revive by scoring goals in four consecutive games since Kim Doo-hyun took the helm, but his silence has been long since then. “When it comes to strikers, it’s always important to score goals. However, it’s not that I couldn’t score goals because I wanted to. I wasn’t lucky enough, and I wasn’t good enough either. Still, I keep exercising and preparing, and I’m looking for opportunities,” he said.
Thiago said, “I was lucky to have scored today’s goal. It’s all thanks to the players’ assistance. There seems to be no difference at all from then on. We are constantly preparing, and we are all working hard together. I think it went well in that regard.”
Now, Jeonbuk has two most important PO matches left. Tiago said, “All the players are confident and have a great will to win. It seems to depend on how we prepare. It’s not about the opponent, it’s about us. How we prepare for the two games over the two weeks determines our stay. All the players will definitely do their best to prepare,” he vowed.
Many predict Jeonbuk’s dominance, but don’t let your guard down. Thiago said, “I was able to find a lot of confidence as a striker by scoring today. I expect Jeonbuk to survive, but it’s all expected. If we don’t prepare well and play well, the results won’t follow. It won’t be an easy game.” 메이저사이트
Finally, Tiago said, “A lot of fans are disappointed this season. I want to show you how satisfied I am in the remaining two games. I will prepare well for next season,” adding, “Many fans cheered for me without missing a single game. Everyone is very sorry that I couldn’t repay you. As always, if you come and support us as much as you did at PO, we will prepare really hard to repay you. We will show you the results.”
In the meantime, Jeonbuk has been assigned to E-Land of Seoul, which beat the Jeonnam Dragons. E-Land scored a miraculous goal in the final minutes of the K League 2 PO to qualify for the promotion PO.