FC Seoul comfortably disposed of Thai champions Buriram United on Tuesday at the World Cup Stadium. The K League team started cautiously but ignited before the break, and were never in danger after that.
Up first at the post match press conference was Buriram United manager Osmar Loss. Due to time constraints, Loss could only talk to the media for a few minutes.
In this post match remarks, the manager said “I think football is really special. Until the first goal, the game is in control. Both teams tried to get the possession, tried to create opportunities, but nobody created any opportunities until the first goal. After the first goal, we had, unfortunately, three players injured in the first half that make us to make three changes. This is not usual. But second half, we tried to be more aggressive, more offensive, because we are losing 2-0.”
On the performance, Loss believed there are “a lot of things that we need to analyze. I think we need to adapt to the pitch that is faster (in Korea) than our pitch in Thailand and the pitches that we normally play in Thailand. The players faced a lot of problems to manage the speed of the game. But this is the point of the Champions League. We had a plan. We tried to block the two midfield players from Seoul that managed the attack movement numbers. The midfielders are Hwang Do-yoon and Lee Seung-mo. We could get a good tactical situation in the first half. But in the end, when the goal happened, the game changed.”
Responding to my question about Seoul’s shaky start, and whether his team failed to take advantage, the coach admitted this “makes us upset. We read the game and did our analysis to a good level. But when we had the ball, we couldn’t create a good advantage. I think the game was a little bit boring for the fans in the stadium until the 35th minute. But with the goal, the game changed because the emotions changed. We know the level of the Korean league. Of the Seoul team.”
Loss continued to discuss “rhythm” and how his team “lost the rhythm of the game.”
Following the Spaniard, FC Seoul manager Kim Gi-dong was joined by man-of-the-match and scorer of the opening goal, Choi Jun.
Kim admitted his side “got lucky in the first half, but in the second half, we started to play our football and that helped us dominate the game. In general, I am happy with the win, but the main thing is a good performance in front of our amazing home fans today.”
He continued that he would like to play friendly matches at the stage to maintain fitness, but that can’t happen because his team “are playing every three days now. The Champions League matches are adding competitive energy to the whole squad.”
Goal scorer Choi Jun agreed with my assertion that his goal settled his side after a nervy opening 35 minutes, helped them regain confidence and win easily. “After the first goal, there was suddenly a lot more space. It was great we could get another goal before half time. That changed the entire game. In the second half, we got the rhythm back, we got our confidence, and then we dominated the second half.”
Kim rounded out the press conference by claiming the clean sheet coupled with a good win gave him the most personal satisfaction.
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