Choi Tae-woong deep in thought: “Domestic players’ breathing anxiety, lack of skill in the end”
The team has tried various changes, but nothing has worked. Head coach Choi Tae-woong’s worries are deepening after three straight losses.
Hyundai Capital suffered a 0-3 (25-27, 21-25, 17-25) setback to Samsung Fire in the first round of the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Men’s Division at Yoo Yoo-soon Gymnasium in Cheonan on April 22. Hyundai Capital had been dominant against Samsung Fire last season, winning all six meetings between the two teams, but even that didn’t work in this match. Ahmed Iqbairi (real name Ahmed) played as an outside hitter and scored 20 points, but the team lacked support from domestic players, especially Choi Min-ho and Kim Sun-ho, who started the game and scored only two and one points, respectively.
Choi Tae-woong, who came to the interview room looking like he had a lot on his mind, said, “The Samsung Fire players played really well. On the other hand, I think our team played under some pressure. The chemistry between the players is not good. In the end, it’s a lack of skill. We have a lot of good players, but you can’t play volleyball with just names. Right now, I’m playing volleyball with Ahmed as the only person I’m looking at. It’s frustrating,” she said.
Regarding Ahmed’s performance as an outside hitter, he said, “He has played outside hitter before when he was younger, and he did his job without any problems. However, the domestic players next to him are not in sync with each other, so a solution is needed,” he said.
Coach Choi Tae-woong said, “In the end, the only solution is training. Losing matches is partly due to bad luck, but it’s also due to the players’ lack of training. The players must have realized that they can’t play volleyball with their existing skills,” he said, indicating that they will increase their training intensity to end the losing streak.
Meanwhile, Kim Sang-woo beat Hyundai Capital for the first time since taking over as Samsung Fire coach. “Yosvani Hernandez (real name Yosvani) did a great job centering us in the tough moments. The other players also played their roles well. We’ve been losing to Hyundai Capital for a long time, and I hope this will inspire us to play well in the future,” Kim said after the game, adding, “I thought a lot about catching them. Last season, we missed a few games that we could have won, but this time we set the tone well. After we got over the hump of the first set, we had a good flow,” he said.굿모닝토토 도메인
On Ahmed’s decision to play outside hitter, Kim said, “I thought he might come out with something new. In the end, the placement of the players is important because of the matchup in the front row, and due to Ahmed’s change of position, the matchup we had planned didn’t work well, but we were able to cope with it by covering well in defense and connection.”
Kim was also pleased with Son Tae-hoon, who started as the starting middle blocker after the last match against Korean Air. “When Son Tae-hoon comes in, we have the advantage of being able to utilize fastballs. He also has a stable serve,” Kim said. “In this match, he did a good job of blocking at important moments. He was unable to qualify for free agency last season, so he must have been desperate, but he showed it well on the court,” Kim said, praising Son Tae-hoon.