Jeju United head coach Nam Ki-il laughed off the unintentional FA Cup postponement, saying it was the will of the heavens.바카라사이트
Jeju will host Suwon Samseong in the 27th round of the Hana OneQ K League 2023 at Suwon World Cup Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 18.
Jeju went unbeaten in July, only to have their run interrupted by a Suwon derby loss to Suwon FC shortly after the break. Fortunately, they bounced back with a 1-1 draw away to Jeonbuk Hyundai in the previous round. However, with relegation rivals Gangwon catching leaders Ulsan Hyundai in the previous round, Suwon’s position slipped back to 12th place (4 wins, 7 draws, 15 losses, 19 points).
Jeju’s story has been the opposite of Suwon’s. Before the break, Jeju went nine games without a win (three draws and six losses) in the two months of June and July. The team dropped to the bottom of the standings. After the break, Jeju rebounded with one win and one draw to secure four points. After the break, Jeju rebounded with one win and one draw, gaining four points. Only two points separate them from sixth-place Daejeon (36 points).
“In the last game, we played very well in defense, so I think we got a win after a long time,” said Nam Ki-il to the media before the game. “To continue that atmosphere, we prepared for today’s game by thinking about what our opponent is good at and what we can do better.”
“First of all, basically, they’re playing with a lot of numbers in the midfield, and they’re playing with a lot of plays, and they’re playing with a lot of fast players on both sides. It’s important to make sure we don’t do those things well. We’re still doing a good job, but we’re filling in the gaps. We’re trying to make sure that we’re doing the things that we’ve strategically prepared to do well against them.”
On starting foreign strikers Hayes and Yuri Jonatan off the bench, he added: “It’s an away game and we’ve been on a tight schedule lately, so we’ve been rotating them. We want them to play the full 90 minutes, but we’re also concerned about injuries. The weather is also hot, so we are preparing by rotating a little bit.”
Prior to the win over Suwon FC, Jeju was scheduled to play the Pohang Steelers in the Hana OneQ FA Cup semifinals on Sept. 9, but received an unexpected break when the match was postponed an hour and a half before kickoff due to the northern aftermath of Typhoon Kanun.
When asked if the FA Cup postponement was a blessing in disguise, Nam laughed softly, “It’s the will of the heavens, isn’t it?” he said.
“What we can do is to prepare as best we can, and what we can’t do is to postpone it because it’s postponed for various reasons, not just because of the weather, but because it’s postponed for various reasons, so we always accept and prepare for those things,” he explained.