Players who used to play against each other in the K League have met and worked together as a team in Team K League.
Team K League and Atlético Madrid held a pre-game press conference and open training session at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on June 26. The two teams will face off in the first leg of the 2023 Coupang Play Series at 8 p.m. on the 27th at the same venue.
Team K-League is composed of 22 players, including the Fan Eleven, who were selected by fan votes, and the Pick Eleven, who were selected by the coaching staff, including Team K-League head coach Hong Myung-bo and Team K-League coach Choi Won-kwon. At the pre-match press conference, Coach Hong anticipated that it would be difficult to lead an all-star team and face Atletico, whose strength is organization, but said, “In football, the ball is the language. How you play around the ball is important,” he said, adding, “We will prepare to showcase the language of Team K League.”
After participating in events such as press conferences, fan services, and soccer clinics, the team held an open training session from 8 p.m. onward. At 8:05 p.m., they took to the field and warmed up for about 25 minutes under the direction of Ulsan Hyundai’s physical coach Seigo Ikeda, who also serves as Team K League’s physical coach.
At around 8:30, they started playing a mini-game to get in sync. Unlike Atletico, who practiced in three teams of eight near the halfway line, Team K League utilized only one half of the field to play 11v11. Before the mini-game, Hong gathered the players and gave them instructions in person, and watched them carefully with his coaching staff.
Goalkeepers Lee Chang-geun and Cho Hyun-woo kept the same goal regardless of team, while the field players were divided into two teams. The vest team was composed mostly of domestic players. Lee In-gyu and Na Sang-ho, who are both top scorers in the league, formed the forward line with Lee Seung-woo and Hayes, the only foreign player on the vest team. Baek Seung-ho and Hankook Young were deployed in the midfield, while Lee Ki-je, Kim Young-kwon, Jung Tae-wook, and Seol Young-woo formed the defense. 꽁머니사이트
On the other side, Zeca and Sejingya reunited after playing together at Daegu FC last year. Gerso and Bae Jun-ho flanked the defense, while Lee Soo-min and Palosevic supported in the midfield. The back line consisted of Anton, Grant, Timo, and Hwang Jae-won. The players exchanged passes without overdoing it and worked on their organization. After about 10 minutes of mini-games, shooting practice and a short meeting, the Team K League Open Training ended.