FC Seoul coach Ahn Ik-soo explained the reason for replacing the captain for the season: “The player’s request was very strong.”
Seoul will have a home game against Gwangju FC at 7:30 pm on the 9th at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Hana One Q K League 1 2023 Round 12. Seoul is in 2nd place (6 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses, 20 points), and Gwangju is in 7th place (4 wins, 2 draws, 5 losses, 14 points).
This is the second matchup of the season. In the match last March, Seoul defeated Gwangju 2-0, with Um Ji-seong sent off, thanks to consecutive goals from Osmar and Park Dong-jin.
Now, two months after that, Seoul is running second in the league with stable performance. Gwangju also made a sensation for the promoted team by using attacking football, but it has stagnated without winning in the last 4 league games.
Ahead of the second confrontation, Seoul announced the replacement of the captain. Instead of Ilyuchenko, who served as captain this season, Osmar, a veteran mercenary, was entrusted with the rest of the season.
Coach Ahn Ik-soo explained the reason for the replacement in an interview before the game, saying, “The request for Ilyuchenko was very strong.”
“It wasn’t my concern. It was Ilyuchenko’s concern,” coach Ahn said. “He is a very professional player and has high self-esteem. I’m doing well,” he said.
However, “I had a lot of worries about the player’s condition. As I came out to the game, Ilyuchenko was very worried because the performance was not the same as last year. said,” he said.
Coach Ahn explained, “I was in a position that I couldn’t do it. I declined several times, but the player’s argument was so strong that it was an unavoidable choice.” 토토사이트
Seoul, which was on the verge of relegation last season, is cruising to second place in the league this season, recording 30,000 spectators for three consecutive games.
Pointing to the photo of the stadium with full spectators hanging in the manager’s office, coach Ahn said, “It’s been 30,000 spectators in 13 years. I told the players. That photo is also hanging at the entrance of the clubhouse. At the time, the average spectator was 3. There were more than 10,000 people. He said he would like to have a sense of responsibility.”
He then promised to achieve better results, saying, “It is a time when we need a lot of effort to fill the parts that fans want and to develop further through the revival period.”