Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Guangzhou: Seongnam FC coach Kim Hak-bum refused to criticise his players after they “gave 100%” in the 2-0 defeat to Guangzhou Evergrande that saw the Korean FA Cup holders eliminated 3-2 on aggregate from the AFC Champions League last 16 on Wednesday.
Kim’s side had brought a 2-1 lead to Tianhe Sports Centre Stadium following last week’s first leg in Seongnam, where goals from Jorginho and captain Kim Do-heon had sandwiched a stunning striker from Guangzhou’s Huang Bowen.
But a vocal crowd in Guangzhou saw goals in either half from Brazilian forward Ricardo Goulart erase the slim deficit to deny the K-League Classic side a return to the last eight for the first since winning the AFC Champions League in 2010.
Guangzhou Evergrande 2-0 Seongnam (3-2 agg)
“My players tried their best and gave 100%, so I have no regrets about the game and I truly appreciate my players’ performance. I am very satisfied being the coach of Seongnam FC,” said Kim.
“We are still in the beginning of our transition from a sponsored club to a citizen’s club, so are still in the beginning stages, but are developing ourselves in a positive direction and we can expect this developing team to perform better and better in the future.
“Although we lost against Guangzhou Evergrande, I believe we truly lost against Ricardo Goulart. He performed to his maximum and was really impressive on the pitch.”
Four K-League Classic clubs had advanced to the Round of 16 but only one, current table-toppers Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, were able to progress to the quarter-finals with FC Seoul and Suwon Samsung also exiting at the hands of Japanese duo Gamba Osaka and Kashiwa Reysol.
“I think this indicates that the K-League has to do something remain competitive in Asia,” added Kim.
“Gamba Osaka won the treble last year, and is obviously a very good team, while Guangzhou have made significant investment on and off the field and have developed into a very good team and a very strong one by continental standards.
“So, you can see that the J.League and the Chinese Super League clubs are gaining better qualities through aggressive investment. I feel that the K-League has to invest more and develop a solid future plan if we want to continue to compete at the top level on the continent.
“If we don’t do so, we will hand over our position as top Asian league to Japan or China.”
Photo: WSG