[Sports Seoul | Sangam = Reporter Park Jun-beom] “I want to praise their resilience.”
FC Seoul, led by Kim Ki-dong, played to a 0-0 draw with FC Anyang on May 5 in Round 12 of the Hana Bank K League 1 2026 at Seoul World Cup Stadium. Seoul was reduced to ten men when defender Yazan was sent off for a dangerous foul in the 36th minute of the first half.
Even so, Seoul stood firm and preserved a clean sheet. Anyang’s forward Kim Kang was shown a red card in the 36th minute of the second half, giving Seoul a chance to push forward, but they failed to convert the opportunity. After the match, Kim said, “A lot of fans and children came to watch, so the red card makes the result a little disappointing. We made changes at halftime that worked well. We could have won, and the players reacted properly. They held on to force the draw. After enduring a difficult spell we had chances, but we didn’t take them. I want to praise their ability to hang in there. That single point could prove important.”
Yazan has been underwhelming for a second straight match. Kim explained, “He gave his best effort but slipped and couldn’t stop. That’s disappointing. I’m grateful the players held on to get a point, and I told them they need to perform at least twice as well going forward.”
Seoul didn’t sit back despite being a man down. Kim added, “I actually disagreed with the coaching staff about dropping our defensive line because I thought it would weaken the midfield. After the 15th minute of the second half, when Moon Seon-min and Anderson came on, we could look to exploit the space behind their defense. We were a bit lacking in the final moments. Had this been last season, we probably would have lost. This will be a big boost.”
Seoul cut the gap to second-place Jeonbuk Hyundai (21 points) to five. Kim said, “I think we’re performing well. I expect Jeonbuk and Daejeon Hana Citizen to climb. We won’t worry about the teams chasing us — we don’t have that luxury. We’ll focus on preparing for the next match. We have three away games coming up, and our away form isn’t bad. We’ll get through them.” beom2@sportsseoul.com
