‘ACL 3 IN A ROW’ POHANG COACH KIM KI-DONG “WE WON, BUT LACK OF DECISIVENESS IS DISSAPOINTING”

We were worried because we had a lot of injuries, but we played a good game,” said Pohang Steelers head coach Kim Ki-dong after the team won its third straight Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) group stage match against defending champions Urawa Reds (Japan).Kim Ki-dong’s side won their 2023-2024 ACL Group J third leg against Urawa 2-0 on Thursday at Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, Japan. It was Pohang’s third straight win in the group stage, solidifying their position at the top of Group J and setting them up for a spot in the round of 16.

“We were worried about injuries in the ACL as well as in the K League, but we showed a good performance today,” Kim said at the official press conference after the game. “It was disappointing that we lacked decisiveness in situations where we could have scored additional goals. We will continue to play well with the players in both the K League and ACL,” he encouraged the players. “Urawa’s style is very similar to ours. We played our own practice games and thought about where their weaknesses might be,” he said. “We tightened up our central defense in preparation for short passes and prepared for counterattacks.”

“We thought that if we used Kim In-sung’s speed to counterattack, they would be very confused. When the opponent brought up a lot of side defense resources and gave us space, we took advantage of it,” he added. “It’s always difficult to play against Japan, so I’m glad we got a good result today,” said Kim In-sung, who also spoke at the press conference. Kim In-sung came on for Jung Jae-hee in the first 30 minutes and assisted on Ko Young-joon’s goal four minutes into the second half to seal the win. “We have a lot of important games coming up in Korea,” said Kim, “and winning today’s game will give us the strength 스포츠토토존 we need to make our upcoming games a little easier.”

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