Hello everyone, today is December 13, 2023. Below, let's take a look at today's "Hanzu Evening News" focus news, which is as follows:
1. AFC Champions League: Incheon unfortunately won and went out, and Jeonbuk won to advance to the knockout round
2. The change of coach in Seoul triggered a chain reaction: Pohang finalized the return of meritorious service, and Gwangju renewed Lee Jung-hyo
3. European arena: Defending dignity, Kim Min-jae kept a clean sheet and Manchester United led the team to advance to the knockout round undefeated
Let's take a look at the details of each news
On December 13, the final round of Group F and Group G of the 2023-24 AFC Champions League East Asia Group Stage will be launched. In the Philippines, although Incheon United defeated the opponent 3-1, due to the other game in the same group, Yokohama Mariner defeated Shandong Taishan 3-0, and the three teams accumulated 12 points.
In Group F, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motor, which was playing at home, defeated Bangkok United 3-2 after a hard-fought battle, and won the last ticket to the knockout stage in East Asia as the second in Group F. At this point, the group stage of the first phase of the 2023-24 AFC Champions League has all ended, and in the final four of the K-League, Pohang Iron Man, Ulsan HD FC (formerly Ulsan Hyundai, officially renamed Ulsan HD FC on December 13, 2023), and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motor have advanced to the knockout round, and the knockout round will start in mid-February next year.
The day before yesterday, a number of Korean media disclosed the news that "Kim Ki-dong, the meritorious coach who is currently coaching Pohang Irons, will switch to FC Seoul, and the two sides are actively negotiating". Once this news becomes a reality, it will shape the pattern of this year's K-League winter transfer window to a certain extent, and it will also change the current pattern of FC Seoul. Of course, at the moment, the news that Kim Ki-dong has joined FC Seoul has taken the lead in influencing the situation of the coaches of two K-League teams, one is Pohang Iron Man and the other is Gwangju FC.
Let's start with Pohang Iron Man. After the news of "Kim Ki-dong joining FC Seoul" was widely revealed, Pohang Iron Man did not respond immediately, nor did he make a statement that "the facts are unfounded" through an intermediary, which also shows that the team basically acquiesced in the authenticity of the news. According to the exclusive news of South Korea's ** "Football World", Pohang Iron Man has begun to contact the new coach, and the new coach is Coach Park Tae-ha, chairman of the technical committee of the Korean Football Professional League. As a "legend" in the history of Pohang Iron Man Club, Park Tae-ha spent all his life as a player in Pohang except for his service in Sangmu. And his coaching career began in 2007 with Fallas.
After 2007, Park Tae-ha was invited to join the coaching staff of the national team, and assisted coach Xu Dingmao to create the "first overseas World Cup round of 16" in South Africa! In 2012, he assisted Portugal coach Nello Wenjada as the head assistant coach and won the K-League title. In 2015, he came to China and led the Yanbian team of the Chinese League to win the championship of the Chinese League, and achieved good results in the Chinese Super League the following year. In addition, he also led the Chinese women's football youth team to the Asian Youth Championship, but unfortunately failed to qualify for the group stage. After leaving China, Park Tae-ha has served as the chairman of the technical committee of the Korean Football Professional League since 2020, and has been paying attention to the development and growth of the K-League. It can be seen from Park Tae-ha's resume that after Kim Ki-dong left, he is the only person who is fully qualified to be the coach of Pohang Iron Man.
In addition to Park Tae-ha, who is basically confirmed as the coach of the Pohang Iron Man, Gwangju FC is also preparing to renew the contract with meritorious coach Lee Jung-hyo in recent days. Due to previous rumors that he was going to take over FC Seoul, the two sides were not able to renew their work contracts even after the team reached the AFC Champions League. It wasn't until the news of "Kim Ki-dong coaching Seoul" came out recently that Lee Jung-hyo basically agreed to renew his contract with the team. After Lee Jung-hyo, who took over the team last year, successfully led the team to K1, Gwangju signed a two-year work contract with him. In other words, if Lee Jeong-hyo wants to find another place within 2 years, he must pay a certain amount of liquidated damages to Gwangju. After it was confirmed that Lee Jung-hyo would not be eligible for the Seoul position, the two sides officially contacted that the new contract will be adjusted from the original end of 2024 to the end of 2027, and the salary will be second only to the annual salary of Ulsan Hong Myung-bok and Seoul Kim Ki-dong. In next year's K1 League, when Lee Jung-hyo leads the team to face Seoul again, I don't know what kind of sparks will burst out!
Kim and his team-mates were questioned after the 5-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt, especially after a 10-day break from heavy snowfall, which led to doubts about Tuchel's command and the quality of his players. Therefore, although the group stage has been advanced to the knockout stage early, if the team loses the match against Manchester United and sends the same poor opponent Manchester United "gift package", then the team will usher in a new "storm" criticism! Fortunately, Kim Min-jae and his teammates defended their dignity.
At Manchester City's Old Trafford Stadium, Kim Min-jae and his teammates felt the pressure of the home team from the start, but they used excellent defense and attack to finally retreat from the opponent's home stadium 1-0! In this victory, Kim Min-jae and his teammates tried their best, especially Kim Min-jae blocked the opponent's shots many times and carried the opponent's breakthrough with his body.
After this victory, Bayern Munich ranked first in Group A with an unbeaten record of 5 wins and 1 draw and advanced to the knockout round! Manchester United, on the other hand, finished bottom of the group and did not even qualify for the Europa League.
(Editor in charge: Korean Football Research Association).
The copyright of the above news belongs to the "Korean Football Research Association".