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| Source=Seo Jeongwon Instagram |
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| Source=Seo Jeongwon Instagram |
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| Source=Seo Jeongwon Instagram |
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South Korean soccer legend Seo Jung-won, who led Chinese Super League club Chengdu Longcheng to the best stage in Asia, briefly expressed his appreciation.
Coach Seo opened his personal Instagram on the 13th for the first time in a long time and left a long post with a photo of the game on the day he confirmed his advance to the Asian Champions League Elite (ACLE) finals in the 2025-2026 season. Chengdu reached the ACLE finals for the first time in the club's history with a 3-0 victory over Bangkok United in the second half with Yang Ming-yang's first goal and multiple goals from former Gwangju striker Felipe.
Coach Seo said, `When the season starts, I'm always nervous about tight schedules and unexpected obstacles, and I sometimes feel like I'm losing all my energy because I'm living 24 hours a day as a coach.'
"However, when I watch the moment everything fits as I think and prepare while playing, or when our players follow me well and improve by overcoming limitations, I feel like I'm rewarded with a sense of accomplishment," he said.
Coach Seo, who took the helm of Chengdu in 2021, promoted the team that remained in the second division to the Super League for the first time in just a year, and advanced the team to the Asian stage with his third-place performance in the league last season. The name Seojeongwon is considered a 'myth' in Chengdu, a metropolitan city with a population of more than 20 million.
Coach Seo has suffered from large and small problems such as unpaid agent fees, rental of training sites, and unilateral recruitment of players amid frequent changes in the team's leadership over the past year or two. Promises such as invoking the contract renewal clause were also not kept. In response, at a press conference in July, he made a lot of remarks with determination, saying, `If the club is not satisfied with the coaching staff, please let me know as soon as possible.' However, after only looking at new goals and devoting himself to them, he unraveled the fans' long-standing aspirations.
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| Source=Seo Jeongwon Instagram |
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Director Seo said, `It seems that the hard day ends with a happy ending as we share the joy of winning with the fans who are truly happy on the spot and watch them return with joy, but it is an arduous job where the head of the road back home is filled with the next game and the gray hair increases all night long as we can't enjoy the joy for a half of that night. Still, I love this job so much."
Coach Seo, who took the last train of the ACLE finals, is likely to face K-League teams such as Ulsan, Gangwon and Seoul in the league stage (group league). Coach Seo had taken the helm of Suwon Samsung before taking office in Chengdu. Director Seo's visit to Korea is expected to draw attention in many ways. The league stage, where the final schedule is confirmed on the 15th, will be held from September to February next year, and eight games per team will be played to determine whether they will advance to the round of 16.
In the East Asian region, 12 teams will compete, including three South Korean teams, three Japanese teams (Vissel Kobe, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Machida Zelvia), three Chinese teams (Shanghai Port, Shanghai Shenhua and Chengdu), one Thai team (Buriram United), one Australian team (Melbourne City), and one Malaysian team (Johoru Darul).
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
