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| South Park Hotel (Charlatt, USA) / 2025 FIFA Club World Cup / Ulsan HDFC / Team Arrival / Ulsan Lee Chung-yong / Photo by Kim Jung-soo |
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| Atrium Health Performance Park (Shalert, USA)/ 2025 FIFA Club World Cup/ Ulsan HDFC/ Training/ Ulsan Trojac/ Photo by Kim Jung-soo |
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Ulsan HD is in full swing in the U.S.
Ulsan entered Charlotte, the United States, where the FIFA Club World Cup base camp was set up on the 7th (Korea time). On the 9th, a sudden downpour and lightning strike caused a brief suspension of training. According to the U.S. safety regulations '8 Mile lighting rule', lightning strikes within 8 miles (about 13 km) require a 30-minute stay in an indoor safety area. There was also a regret to end the training suddenly, but I had time to recharge by avoiding the high temperature and hot sunlight that exceeded 30 degrees Celsius.
In 10, normal training was conducted for nearly two hours without variables. Until now, they have been adapting well to the local environment without any separators. Coach Kim Pan-gon plans to enhance the players' sense of practice and organizational skills. He will play a practice game against Charlotte FC of the U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) on Wednesday.
MLS, like the K League, is implementing the spring and autumn system, so the league is in full swing. The performance of all teams has come up. Ulsan tried to play a practice match with the teams participating in the Club World Cup. However, as it was a tournament on the continent, it was difficult to catch games with teams far from the base camp. The team is currently in the middle of the season and will conduct an interim inspection through a showdown with Charlotte, who is a team with a sense of practice and can minimize fatigue in moving the team.
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| Atrium Health Performance Park (Shalert, USA)/ 2025 FIFA Club World Cup/ Ulsan HDFC/ Training/ Ulsan Eric, Lee Jin-hyun/ Photo by Kim Jung-soo |
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| AP Yonhap News |
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Charlotte is a young team that was founded in 2019 and debuted in MLS in the 2022 season, but has steadily strengthened its inner circle over the past few years, making a leap to the upper-middle ranks. It is moving toward its first championship, the goal and task of the club, by recruiting a coach who prefers an aggressive style and a player suitable for it.
Charlotte is currently ranked eighth in the MLS Eastern Conference and is likely to advance to the Final Series. He advanced to the Final Series as the final fifth in the previous season's conference. He is having a pleasant break with a 2-0 victory over Toronto FC just before the A-match break.
The current head of Charlotte is England national coach Dean Smith. He served as manager of Brentford, Aston Villa, Norwich City and Leicester City, and took the helm of Charlotte in 2023. It is expected to put great significance on the practice game against Ulsan as it is set to play an away game against the Philadelphia Union, the No. 1 player in the Eastern Conference, on the 15th.
The eye-catching part is Ulsan's living legend Lee Chung-yong's players in Charlotte. Central defender Tim Lim has been a team for four years with Bolton, Lee Chung-yong's first English Premier League (EPL) team. Attention is focusing on whether Lim, a veteran of the U.S. nationality, will deliver local adaptation tips and information on teams participating in the Club World Cup, including the Seattle Sounders, Inter Miami and LA FC, to Lee Chung-yong, who has not met for the first time in a long time.
Winger Wilfried Zaha, responsible for the attack, was loaned to Charlotte from Galatasaray, Turkiye, ahead of this season. Lee Chung-yong and Zaha wore Crystal Palace jerseys from the 2015 to 2018 season and played on the ground together. Zaha has played in 15 games this season and has shown off his strong performance with four goals and two assists.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
