Football: Under-pressure Pan-gon wants Ulsan to end losing streak when they face off against JDT

PETALING JAYA: Former national football team coach Kim Pan-gon (pic) has raised the stakes ahead of his much anticipated return to Malaysia in his capacity as the current coach of South Korean side Ulsan Hyundai next week.

Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) will face Pan-gon’s charges in their fourth AFC Champions League Elite match at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium on Tuesday.

Ulsan, who won the ACL trophy in 2012 and 2020, have not been in the best of form and are currently bottom of the ACLE East Zone table without any points to show.

Ulsan lost their first three matches against Kawasaki Frontale (1-0), Yokohama F Marinos (4-0) and Vissel Kobe (2-0), which are all Japanese clubs.

The South Korean coach, who left Malaysia four months ago, said he simply cannot accept another defeat.

Ulsan will need to turn their fortunes around if they are to claim a top eight finish in the group to advance to the knockout rounds.

Pan-gon, in an interview with Asian Football Condeferation (AFC), considered the defeat against Kobe embarrassing and apologised to Ulsan’s fans.

“I would really like to apologise to the Ulsan fans. We will do our best to bounce back quickly,” said Pan-gon.

“Maybe we showed the Japanese teams too much respect, or perhaps not enough.

“A lack of preparation caused us to make a string of errors. We cannot repeat this,” he said.

JDT have four points in the bag after they drew 2-2 with Shanghai Port and defeated Shanghai Shenhua 3-0 but dropped to fifth place in the table after going down 1-3 to current leaders Gwangju last month.

Pan-gon’s status as former Harimau Malaya coach adds an interesting element to the JDT-Ulsan clash and the home fans are expected to be out in force at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium.

JDT, via their Facebook page, have also announced that ticket sales for the match have already started online.

Each fan can only buy four tickets while season ticket holders only have to show their pass at the stadium entrances.