Gimpo FC 김포 FC looks to shake up the top of the table again.
Gimpo won 1-0 against Seoul Eland in the 22nd round of the Hana OneQ K League 2 2023 at Mokdong Sports Complex on the afternoon of the 18th, thanks to a late Park Kwang-il goal.
Gimpo, which snapped a six-match winless streak (three draws) with a 2-1 victory over Gimcheon in midweek, rattled off two straight wins to reach 35 points and jump two spots from sixth to fourth place. The gap to leader Gyeongnam (36 points), which has played one game less, is just one point.
Gimpo coach Choi Jung-woon said, “We got over the hump in the second half without reinforcements and beat Gimcheon, and we also beat Gyeongnam, who we hadn’t beaten before. If we continue to play like this, we will gain confidence. I think that’s the biggest gain.”
Coach Ko used the ‘first half defense, second half offense’ plan. It was a decision that took into account the fitness issues of key players after the midweek match. The strategy paid off. After a scoreless first half, Gimpo made the difference eight minutes into the second half when Park Kwang-il scored on a direct free kick.
“In the past, we struggled at home against Lee Land after a break. When I think back to those games, we showed a lot of physical problems even though we were rested, so I knew that Gimpo would not be able to keep up with the workload today. We dropped to a 5-4-1 and tried to counterattack. In the second half, we tried to be aggressive with Juningyo Luis and others,” he said.
“I thought Park Kwang-il was only good for assists,” Goh joked, “but his free-kick accuracy is quite high. In the second half, I ordered him to take a free kick, and it led to a good goal,” he applauded. Park scored his K League debut goal at the age of 32 against Chungnam Asan on Feb. 2.
Ko was not happy about his team’s second straight win. This was due to midfielder Jang Yun-ho, who returned to the starting lineup after a three-month absence. Before the game, Ko emphasized the need for Jang Yun-ho’s experience in Gimpo, saying, “The team is doing everything to keep him alive, including playing time. But every game he comes out injured. Even today, he seems to have a problem with his ankle. He has to shake it off himself. It’s quite unfortunate.” Jang Yun-ho was replaced by Kim Jong-seok in the 19th minute of the second half.
Meanwhile, Eland coach Park Chung-gyun, who has been winless for four consecutive games, said in a hushed voice, “I’m sorry to disappoint the home fans. I realize my responsibility as a coach,” he said. “We have a lot of new players, so we need time to get organized. We will quickly reorganize and correct the mistakes.”
Regarding ‘transfer student’ Park Jung-in, who didn’t make much of an impact after starting, he said, “Today was my first game. During the interview, I said, ‘Take it easy as if it were a practice game,’ but it won’t be as easy as I thought. You want to do well in your new team. You can’t judge a player by one game. You need time to integrate into the team. I think from the next game we will be a little bit better,” he said.
With just two points from their last four matches, Eland (25 points) have dropped from eighth to ninth place. 바카라사이트