A theater goal that has fans cheering. Managers have headaches. Pohang Steelers head coach Kim Ki-dong was no exception.
“It’s a bad day even though we won,” Kim said after the Steelers defeated Daejeon Hana Citizen 4-3 in the 27th round of the 스포츠토토 K League 1 at Pohang Steel Yard on Tuesday.
On this day, Pohang went back and forth between heaven and hell. It was all smiles until they raced out to a 3-0 lead with a fiery offense centered on Zeca.
However, Pohang conceded a goal to Daejeon Thiago in the 35th minute while defender Park Seung-ok was out with an injury. Thiago’s second goal in the 38th minute and Thiago’s hat trick in the 45th minute tied the game at 3-3.
Reflecting on the situation, Kim said, “After going up 3-0, our players were too complacent. I feel bad that we let the momentum (of a 3-0 lead) slip away. I will order my players to play soccer with sincerity.”
The silver lining was that Hong Yun-sang, who came on as a substitute in the 35th minute of the second half, set up the best possible picture for the dramatic final goal on his debut.
“I want to congratulate Hong Yun-sang on his debut goal,” Kim said, “He was the best player in Korea until his middle and high school days. He still has some work to do. If he adapts to the tempo of the K League, he will perform a little better.”
Meanwhile, Daejeon head coach Lee Min-sung said, “I want to praise the players for coming back from 0-3 to 3-3. We definitely improved in terms of following the game against Pohang.” He added, “We need to fix the mistakes we made. The last goal also came from a mistake, which is unfortunate because we missed a chance to take a point.”