Sheep Esports – TES Homme: “I want to be someone my players can count on, someone who will guide them forward”

In a show of force, KT Rolster qualified for the 2025 Worlds Support scene, departure Best eSports in their wake. Despite the loss, the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) representatives advance, with two more chances to join their Korean rivals in the next stage. In an exclusive interview, the head coach of the Chinese team, Yoon “Men“Sung-young, sat down with Sheep Esports to discuss the defeat against KT, the condition of its players and the cultural differences between East and West.

Yoon “Man” Sung-young: “First of all, in the first game, I let the opponent make too many good choices, and I could have drafted better. I feel really bad for not doing my job well. Second, in the team fights, there were also a lot of problems with teamwork. I don’t think our players were on the same page, we made a lot of mistakes. As long as we can solve these two problems, we will do better next time.

Man : I don’t think that’s the case today. It was more about our teamwork and our teamfights. As long as we can perform better in fights and skirmishes, we will achieve much better results next time. We have even more opportunities and more days to prepare and play. As long as we do our best to prepare, we can come back stronger. I’m sure all our players will do their best and work as hard as they can.

Man : This could be the case. But he’s actually sick at the moment: he caught a cold, which is also why he didn’t perform well. He is not feeling well and I hope we can help him recover and get back to his best soon. There were also some miscommunications that got him into trouble. I think he can play a lot better, and honestly, that’s more on me. If I had drafted better and not let KT get those good picks, the outcome could have been very different. So I prefer to blame myself.

Sheep Esports: Our best wishes to Hang, I hope he recovers soon!

Man : Yeah, of course, my family is really proud. What I’m trying to do here is approach the game from a broader perspective. I want to give stronger direction to the players, and when they hesitate, I would like to be someone they can count on to help them move forward. Since we lost today, I guess I’ll have to go back to the drawing board and prepare for the next games. After that, we will be able to react to situations better.

Man : This is especially true in China right now, and it’s been a while since an LPL team won the Worlds, so it’s really crucial that one of the three LPL teams wins the title this year. I hope we can all work together to achieve this. Our team will definitely do their best.

Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun told Esports Insider that to be the best, you have to sacrifice your health and soul to become a top player. Do you agree with this?

Man : I see that all the players really want to improve. They want to try harder, but there is always a limit to your health and abilities. Most players don’t really practice much, which shows their limitations. As a result, they may experience health problems and sometimes feel unwell. To play better despite this, you have to overcome the pain and continue to train, which is not easy. But at Worlds, this is what everyone goes through to try to win the Summoner’s Cup, and I have a lot of respect for the players who go through that process.

Man : I can’t really speak for them because I’ve never worked in those areas, but I suppose there might be a cultural difference. Korea is a small country and everyone is always competing with each other. It’s a very intense society where everyone expects you to give your best. In China, there are also many former Korean professional players and coaches leading LPL teams. At first there was a lot of back and forth trying to find common ground, but in the end they managed to adopt a lot of Korean training culture, which is why they are quite similar. I can’t really say much about Europe or North America since I haven’t experienced them, but I suppose it could also be a cultural thing.