On the 12th at 2:00 pm, the ‘actual A match’ will be held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. A ‘big match’ was predicted, with the new coach of the national soccer team watching, national team players playing, and more than 20,000 spectators. Hwang Eui-jo, a loan student at FC Seoul, said after the home opening game against Incheon on the 25th of last month, “It seemed like I was playing an A match,” and the atmosphere on this day is expected to be even hotter than that day.
According to Seoul club officials, as of the 9th, more than 15,000 tickets for the 3rd round of the ‘Hanawon Q K League 1 2023’ between Seoul and Ulsan have been sold. On the 8th, after 10,000 copies were sold in 4 hours after opening tickets, more than 5,000 copies were sold in just one day. If the current trend continues, it is expected that more than 20,000 spectators will be easily passed over by adding on-site purchases. There is also a prospect that it will surpass the 28,039 people in the opening match between Ulsan and Jeonbuk, which set the record for the highest number of spectators since the Corona 19 pandemic.
Seoul and Ulsan are traditional houses, but they are not rivals. Nevertheless, several factors accounted for such an explosive reservation rate. First of all, this match is the first K-League ‘intuition’ game that new coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who took over as the national team’s helm after former coach Paulo Bento last month, is looking for. It is significant in itself that coach Klinsman directly watches the play of Hwang Ui-jo, Na Sang-ho, Kim Joo-seong (Seoul), Jo Hyun-woo, Kim Young-kwon, Joo Min-gyu, Eom Won-sang, and Seol Young-woo (Ulsan), who are classified as national team regulars or potential national team players.
Coach Klinsman said at the inaugural press conference held at Paju NFC on the 9th, “I decided to look at the K-League schedule,” and said, “There is no specific reason for choosing (picking) this game.” Regardless of whether players from both teams were selected for the A national team, fans are a great place to watch the play of national team players, including ‘former national team captain’ Ki Sung-yong, ‘current national striker’ Hwang Ui-jo, and ‘Portugal hero’ Kim Young-kwon. It’s a chance. It is also expected that coach Klinsmann and Ulsan coach Hong Myung-bo will reunite, who faced off against Germany and Korea at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
In addition, Seoul and Ulsan are on a two-game winning streak after the opening with Pohang. By the number of goals (Seoul 4 goals, Ulsan 3 goals), Seoul is 2nd and Ulsan is 3rd. Since it was a team that gained momentum from the beginning, it is expected that they will have a fierce confrontation with the goal of winning three in a row. Seoul home fans will visit the stadium to watch Seoul break a 15-game winless streak (4 draws and 11 losses) against Ulsan, and Ulsan fans will not stop Ulsan from beating Jeonbuk and Gangwon, but will also hold Seoul and head for their second consecutive league victory. I will go on an expedition to watch them move forward vigorously. 먹튀검증
Although they are players that Coach Klinsman cannot select as the Korean representative, the key players to note on this day are Ilyuchenko (Seoul) and Bako (Ulsan). Ilyuchenko has captained Seoul this year, but has only played 45 minutes in the last two matches. In particular, in the second round against Gwangju, he suffered the “humiliation” of being replaced at halftime after starting. However, on the day after the 2-0 win against Gwangju, Ilyuchenko volunteered to play in Seoul’s practice match along with Palosevich, who also played 45 minutes. Bako is the ‘Seoul Killer’ who scored 4 goals in 5 recent matches against Seoul. In the recent two head-to-head matches, he scored an equalizer with a higher level of individual skill and presented Ulsan with valuable points. Bako, who has been silent in the last two games, hopes to become the ‘main character of Sangambeol’ once again.