The Jeonbuk Hyundai squad is in the midst of a final warm-up ahead of their trip to Hong Kong to face Kitchee SC.
Jeonbuk Hyundai will face Kitchee SC in the fifth leg of their 2023-2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) Group F matchup at Hong Kong Stadium in Hong Kong on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.
Jeonbuk currently sits in second place in the group with two wins, two losses and six points. They are tied on points with Ryan City Sailors (Singapore). Kitchee, on the other hand, is at the bottom of the group with one draw, three losses, and one point.
For Jeonbuk, this is a must-win game with the pressure of traveling. If they don’t win this game, they’ll drop to third place in the group and their chances of qualifying for the round of 16 could be in jeopardy. After beating Kitchee, Jeonbuk will have to prepare for Game 6 at home against Bangkok United (Thailand).
Even if they finish second in the group, they could still be eliminated, making the three points all the more crucial. At the end of the group stage, the top team from each group (five from East Asia and five from West Asia) will automatically qualify for the round of 16, 카지노사이트 but only the top three teams from each group (out of the five teams from each region) will qualify for the round of 16.
Of course, Kitchee is heavily outclassed by Jeonbuk in terms of objective power.
They lost all but a draw against Bangkok in the ACL this season. However, Jeonbuk can’t afford to let their guard down, as they’re coming off back-to-back losses to Bangkok and Ryan City. They need to end their Southeast Asian nightmare with a convincing win here.
Coach Dan Petrescu is well aware of the importance of kitsch. “The most important game in football is the next game,” he said after the 2-0 win over Gwangju on May 25. Now it’s the kick-off. It’s the most important game for the round of 16. For now, we are focusing only on the kickoff,” he emphasized.
A win against Ulsan in the final match of the K League will give the team a chance to finish third in the league, but for now, the team is determined to put everything into the match. “Of course, Ulsan is the champion and Hyundai is the derby,” says Petrescu. I know the fans want to win more than anyone. But we will focus more on the next game, which is the most important.”
On the 28th, a day before the kickoff, Jeonbuk held their final training session at Hong Kong Stadium from 5pm local time. Twenty-four players took to the turf, one more than the 23 officially registered for the match. Nana Boateng, Hapa Silva, and Jun Amano were the only foreign players on the field.
The first 15 minutes were open to the media.
At 5:00, the players began to warm up in two groups: the goalkeeping trio of Kim Jung-hoon, Jung Min-ki, and Gong Si-hyun, and the rest of the field players. The keepers trained separately with the goalposts in one corner of the field, while the other players gathered in the center of the field and focused on stretching.
Coach Petrescu warmed up, touched the ball, and enthusiastically led the players through the drills. He would look at them and shout something out loud. After about 10 minutes, the field players worked in pairs of three or four to get their senses going with some ball-tossing drills.
The weather was cool. Temperatures were well into the 20s, but it wasn’t humid and there was a steady breeze. It was a far cry from the usual Southeast Asian heat. It was perfect for the game.
However, the grass didn’t look great. 카지노사이트 순위 While it wasn’t a “rice cake turf,” there were a few potholes, especially in front of the goal.
Still, it was in much better condition than the Siu Sai Wan field where Jeonbuk trained on the 26th. On the 28th, Ahn Hyun-beom said, “The grass at Xiu Sai Wan Stadium was the worst. The Han River grass was better. It was thick grass with four-leaf clover. You can’t play there,” he sighed. Fortunately, the Hong Kong stadium was not as bad.
However, it is not the kind of grass that Jeonbuk players are used to, so they need to adapt quickly. Ahn Hyun-beom also said, “I’m confident about the game. But the grass is very variable. We need to see the condition of the pitch,” he said.