Seol Ki-hyun, head coach of Shooting Star 2, denied reports of a rift with manager Choi Yong-soo.
Seol Ki-hyun, head coach, met reporters at a cafe in Palpan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Jul. 17 and gave an interview for Coupang Play variety show Shooting Star 2.
Coupang Play variety program Shooting Star is the only full-time growth soccer variety in Korea in which retired legend players, together with Director General Park Ji-sung and manager Choi Yong-soo, challenge active K League players. The scenes of retired legend players coming together to face K4 League teams were unscripted drama and delivered deep emotion. This was proven by 3 million cumulative views on shorts and reels.
Nicknamed "Seolbawdoo," Seol Ki-hyun played for Royal Antwerp FC, RSC Anderlecht, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Reading FC, Fulham FC, Pohang Steelers, Ulsan Hyundai, Incheon United and others, and scored 19 goals in 82 appearances for the national team. After retiring as a player, he served as coach of the Sungkyunkwan University soccer team, a national team coach, and manager of Gyeongnam FC.
As the head coach of FC Shooting Star working alongside manager Choi Yong-soo, Seol Ki-hyun plays a key role handling tactics and checking players' conditions. In particular, he and manager Choi take charge of the variety aspects with their trademark tiki-taka, making him an indispensable presence on Shooting Star.
FC Shooting Star's current record is two draws and three losses. Not only have they yet to win a match, they have fallen to the bottom and must worry about relegation. To make matters worse, a recently released episode showed a clash of opinions between manager Choi Yong-soo and coach Seol Ki-hyun, raising concerns.
Regarding the disagreement with manager Choi Yong-soo, Seol Ki-hyun said, "Our difference in opinion was about starting Ku Ja-chul and Lee Geun-ho. I am more of an FM and the manager is the type who teases and draws more from players through give-and-take. But because Lee Geun-ho and Ku Ja-chul's bodies weren't coming up, I said they should be brought on when they were ready to produce results and raise their condition, while the manager, though he understood that, was conflicted between the match and the broadcast. The manager seemed to want to show fans Lee Geun-ho and Ku Ja-chul playing as well as thinking about the match."
He added, "In particular, Ku Ja-chul's physical condition was worse than Lee Geun-ho's. Honestly, I thought he wouldn't be able to play until the end of season 2 and that he would be very disappointed when the season ended. I even told the manager directly that Ku Ja-chul shouldn't go out, but in the remaining three episodes Ku Ja-chul found his class and showed a turnaround. Raising fitness can't be done by training alone; it must be found by playing matches, and only after the fact did I understand why the manager put Ku Ja-chul in early. I didn't know then, but now that I've seen the intention, I was surprised."
Although it was called a conflict, it was a healthy exchange of opinions that arose from wanting the best direction for the team. And there was another thing that surprised Seol Ki-hyun. Seol said, "Evra came to Korea with only a short time before the match. He flew in in the morning and came straight to training and handled everything. But he had a schedule, so he tried to handle that and prepare for the match, and the manager hesitated over starting him or making him a substitute. I opposed it because I thought Evra wasn't ready and might take it easy, but after some consideration the manager started him. Evra, who played, greatly contributed to the 5-5 draw and played a decisive role, and I was surprised by the manager's player selection."
Seol Ki-hyun thinks the team dinners were part of a big picture drawn by manager Choi Yong-soo. He laughed and said, "At first I didn't understand the culture of team dinners, but I felt they were definitely necessary. It wasn't just about finishing after the match; it fostered closeness. Staff participation was especially high. With all the staff creating a one-team atmosphere, everyone got close. I felt those people weren't just doing their jobs diligently but genuinely wanted victory for this team. That made me feel team dinners aren't bad, and I wondered if it was part of the manager's big picture."
A new episode of Coupang Play's Shooting Star season 2 is released every Friday at 8 p.m.
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