Thiago has high praise for goal-scoring contender In Ji-kyu.
Daejeon Hana Citizen drew 1-1 with Suwon FC in the 34th round (first leg of the final round) of the Hana OneQ K League 1 2023 at Daejeon World Cup Stadium on April 22. The result keeps Daejeon in eighth place with 46 points.
Daejeon needed just one point from this match to secure early retention. However, things didn’t go their way. Daejeon attacked from the start of the game, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Instead, they conceded an early goal to Suwon FC. In the 33rd minute, Lee Young-jae sent in a sharp cross that Kim Hyun finished with a header.
With the lead gone, Daejeon started the second half with a quick substitution. At the start of the second half, they brought on Kang Yoon-seong for Joo Sae-jong, and in the seventh minute of the second half, they took off Yoo Kang-hyun and Masa and brought on Thiago and Kim Young-wook.
Eventually, the goal came. In the 16th minute of the second half, Kim In-gyun sent in a sharp ground ball cross from the left side that Thiago easily slotted home. Daejeon had a few more chances after that, but no further goals were scored. Nevertheless, Thiago’s equalizer secured Daejeon’s place in the first match of the final round.
It wasn’t a win, but a team goal was achieved, and there was also a significant individual metric. Thiago became the joint top scorer. He’s now tied with Lee In-gyu with 15 goals. Of course, the K League doesn’t recognize joint top scorers. It’s based on the number of games played, playing time, etc. In any case, it’s a tie, so it’s a race to the finish.
When we met in the mix zone after the game, Thiago first said, “It was a difficult game. Suwon FC had to beat us, so they came out strong against us. In the end, I’m happy that we were able to get a point and achieve our goal of staying in the K League 1.”
“Personally, it was a disappointing game. We scored a goal, but we had a few good chances and we couldn’t capitalize on them,” he said of his individual performance.
Thiago came on as a substitute in this game. When asked if he was disappointed not to start as he was in contention for the top scorer’s award, he said: “Of course, as a player, you can be disappointed. But I respect the decision of the manager and the coaching staff, and I’m glad I scored the goal in the end. But most of all, I’m happy that the team is staying.”
Thiago is competing for the top scorer for the second year in a row. Last season, Thiago played for Gyeongnam FC in the K League 2, battling for first and second place with current teammate Yoo Kang-hyun (then of Chungnam Asan). In the end, Yoo finished first with 19 goals and Thiago finished second with 18 goals.토스카지노
Today, he is tied with Lee In-gyu. They have the same number of games played, 32. However, in terms of minutes played, In-joo has played 2,334 minutes and Thiago has played 2,456 minutes. In the end, if they have the same number of goals, the player with the fewest minutes will be the top scorer.
Thiago said, “It would be great to be number one. It would mean a lot to me as a striker, and if I won the award, I would like to thank my teammates for helping me, so that’s why I want to be the top scorer.”
Thiago went on to say, “Choi In-gyu is a player who has shown good form in the K League in recent years. He’s a good player. He has also scored against Daejeon. He’s scoring a lot of goals, so I’m nervous, but let’s see who’s laughing at the end of this season,” he said, sending a playful message to In-Joo.