'First match after the 'World Cup tragedy', Coach Lee Jung-hyo vows, "We must soothe Suwon Samsung Football Club... I am very nervous" [Suwon]

*This content was translated by AI.

Lee Jung-hyo, Suwon Samsung FC coach, vowed to present football that would comfort fans hurt by the World Cup.

Suwon and Seongnam FC will face each other in the 16th round of the Hana Bank K League 2 at Suwon World Cup Stadium on the 4th at 7:30 p.m.

Currently sitting second in the K League 2 (14 matches, 29 points), Suwon has regrouped during a roughly one-month World Cup break since their match against Hwaseong FC on the 6th of last month. In the first match after the break, Suwon will host 10th-place Seongnam (14 matches, 17 points) to hunt for three points.

On this day, Suwon will deploy Hayes, Kim Do-yeon, and Kang Sung-jin in attack; place Kang Hyun-mook, Park Hyeon-bin, and Jung Ho-yeon in midfield; form a back four with Lee Sang-min, Ko Jong-hyun, Mo Kyung-bin, and Lee Geon-hee; and put Kim Jun-hong in goal. Captain Hong Jeong-ho will wait on the bench, while key center-back Song Ju-hoon is out due to injury.

In a pre-match meeting with reporters, Coach Lee Jung-hyo said about the break period, "We gave the players a week off and they trained hard," adding, "Injuries can happen during training. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like any major injuries occurred, so I think they will return soon."

During this break, Suwon gained confidence along with positive results in friendly matches. Coach Lee Jung-hyo said, "The players have gained a lot of confidence," but also added with a smile, "Especially young players got many opportunities, and it seemed like they grew during that time, but I'm not sure how today's match will go."

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In the starting lineup for this day, Coach Lee Jung-hyo paired 2007-born Mo Kyung-bin with 2006-born Ko Jong-hyun as center-backs. Regarding this, Coach Lee said, "Although Hong Jeong-ho has returned, we considered his current physical condition and long-term perspective," and added, "Mo Kyung-bin is a young player, but he trained well during this break, and since there are players with minor injuries in the center-back line, he got the opportunity."

The attack unit also shows significant changes compared to before the break. Coach Lee Jung-hyo said, "Bruno Silva and Fesin have returned," and expressed his expectations: "Ultimately, the goal is to score in the final third, so we practiced a lot to match that. If they perform well in actual matches, we will gain a lot of momentum in the second half."

Regarding how opposing teams respond by not giving up space and playing sticky football whenever they face Suwon, he said, "The coaching staff has studied how to utilize narrow spaces and create space for teammates, and developed training programs accordingly. In friendly matches, they understood it well and performed, but I don't know how young players will handle it in front of many fans in actual matches. This is an unusually nervous game."

He also conveyed a sense of responsibility toward fans who visited the stadium for the first match after the World Cup break. Coach Lee Jung-hyo said, "It seems fans came hoping to soothe their bad feelings with Suwon Samsung Football Club's style, so I feel we must satisfy their expectations, which makes me very nervous about that aspect."

Coach Lee Jung-hyo has been serving as a director of the Korea Football Association since last year, participating in Korean football administration. When asked by reporters how he watched the recent North America World Cup, Coach Lee said, "I watched it," but then held back further comments, saying, "However, I decided to focus on what I can do."

He also added, "It seems this is when I became more focused only on how Suwon should move forward in a better direction once the league resumes after the break. I just thought about focusing more on my own role while watching football."

Even when asked if he gained any hints from overseas teams while watching the World Cup, he emphasized, "I simply focused only on Suwon according to my capabilities."

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*This content was translated by AI.