FC Daegu 1-1 Sangju Sangmu ( att : 0 ) – K League

May 29, 2020

The fourth round of the K-League season kicked off with a Friday night ( local time ) match between the sides that finished fifth and seventh in the 2019 season, Daegu FC and Sangju Sangmu. Again I decided to stick with the feed from Bet365 rather than any of the unofficial channels appearing to be streaming the match live on YouTube.

Daegu is the fourth largest city in South Korea, with a population of over 2.5 million people and is located 280 kms south-east from Seoul. FC Daegu moved into the purpose built DGB Daegu Bank Park stadium in 2019, which has an official capacity of 12,415. 

The hosts have had a disappointing start to the season, lying third from bottom after three rounds with just two points. They have scored only one goal, through Brazilian striker Edgar in the 1-1 home draw with Pohang Steelers, a match in which they looked the more likely winners in the closing stages. Their other results have been a dull 0-0 draw at Incheon and a fairly predictable comprehensive 0-2 defeat at favourites Jeonbuk.

Sangju’s side consists of young South Korean professional footballers serving their compulsory two year military duty, before returning back to their parent club. Obviously, they do not have any foreign players, although they do have Moon Seon Min, who has 14 full caps, and played over 100 times in the Swedish top flight and who has returned to the country to do his service.

Every season Sangju have to build a new side to integrate the new recruits and cover for those whose service has come to an end. Consequently, they probably need time to settle, and were hammered 0-4 in their opening match at Ulsan. However, since that result they have bounced back with two home wins, over Gangwon and Gwangju, without a goal conceded, to sit in third place. However, it is already known that the team will be relegated at the end of the season as part of a long planned restructuring of the Korean leagues. Left sided midfielder Sang Woo Kang, whose parent club is Pohang Steelers, is the top scorer with two goals.

Daegu, playing all sky blue, started the match as 10/11 favourites to win with Sangju, in their normal red shirts, black shorts, 3/1 outsiders.

Daegu started strongly and after 5 minutes their peroxide blond captain Jeung Woon Hong ( no 5 ) forced a brave close range save from Sangju keeper. 

From the corner Hong then had a shot blocked as he slipped and turned to get his shot away. Minutes later he went down in a heap to be treated and had to be stretched off.

Apart from this the first half was relatively uneventful. Min had started on the bench for Sangju but an injury meant he entered the field of play on 38 minutes. Edgar worked hard for Daegu but a couple of weak headers easily saved were the only reward for his endeavours.

Daegu also started the second half strongly, but Edgar headed harmlessly wide under pressure from the Sangju defence. However, the deadlock was broken on 50 minutes when a low right wing cross was athletically back heeled onto the run into the far corner by Brazilian Cesinha for a 1-0 lead.

To their credit Sangju responded brightly and after 61 mins a cross from the left was met with a flicked header flicked into far corner from 8 yards by Seung Min Song ( No 16, with Pohang Steelers as his parent club ). There was the obligatory salute to the stand after scoring. 

The tempo of the game quickened after the equaliser, with Edgar again heading harmlessly wide and then Cesinha hit the post following a long ball down channel and a shot across the goal from a tight angle. However, Sangju also had chances with Min having a shot following a quick counter blocked for a corner , and on 77 minutes a slick move left Min free at the back post but his weak shot was easily saved.

Games in Korea this season have often had late drama but here the only example was on 87 minutes when Edgar slid in to connect with low cross from right wing but his close range effort hit the keeper and went over for a corner. After this the game fizzled out for the 1-1 draw.

In summary, a draw was a fair result. Sangju were defensively well organised, their passing was neat and they counter attacked with pace. Daegu were functional without too much creative spark, and relied heavily on their two Brazilian forwards for any creativity.

Official Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCXHFattjus

FK Indija 1-2 Spartak Subotica ( att : 0 ) - Serbia Superliga

May 29, 2020

The Serbian Superliga consists of 16 clubs who play each other twice in order to determine the Champions. The bottom two sides go down, with the sides finishing in the 13^th and 14^th places facing relegation play-offs against sides from the Prva Liga, the Serbian Second Division.

The 2019/20 season was suspended with four rounds to play, but will now resume to a finish, with matches to be played behind closed doors.

Crvena Zvezda ( Red Star Belgrade ) were the champions in 2019 and have already won this year’s championship. Only Red Star and Partizan Belgrade have ever won the Serbian Superliga since its creation in 2006.

Since the creation of the Yugoslav League in 1946 the only other Serbian sides to win Championships were Vojvodina ( twice - the last in 1989 ) and the notorious Obilic, under the patronage of career criminal/thug/war hero ( delete as appropriate ) Arkan, who allegedly bullied, threatened and coerced their way to win the Serbia and Montenegro league in 1998.

The first match to be played following the resumption was FK Indija vs Spartak Subotica.

Indija is in the Vojvodina province of Serbia, and is approximately 35 miles north-west of the capital Belgrade. It is located on the Belgrade-Subotica-Budapest railway line and the town’s stadium lies on the old depot site for locomotives. The municipality has just under 50,000 inhabitants.

FK Indija were promoted last season, and are in only their second ever season in the Superliga, with their previous visit ending in immediate relegation in 2011. The Indija Stadium holds 4,500 and the average attendance for the season before the suspension was 1,283. They play in all green so their supporters are known as Zelena Armija ( Green Army )

FK Indija currently lie in 14^th place in the table, four points clear of automatic relegation but seven points away from avoiding the relegation play-offs. They have only gathered four points away from home but are unbeaten in their last 5 home matches, including a draw with Red Star. They also have a home Cup Quarter Final against Red Star to look forward to. Their squad consists entirely of Serbian players, apart from Montenegrin midfielder Vojin Pavlovic ( who is not in the squad today ) and Slovene defender Nemanja Vidic ( who didn’t use to play for Manchester United ! ). Their 22 league goals this season have been shared between 14 players, and the top scorer has only 3 goals.

The city of Subotica is on the Hungarian border and the municipality has just under 150,000 inhabitants. It is just over 190 kilometres from Belgrade and Hungarian is apparently regularly spoken by one-third of its population.

Spartak were frequent participants in the Yugoslav Leagues, yo-yoing being its first and second divisions, but never set the league alight, a tradition they have continued since the creation of the Serbia Superliga. They play in the Subotica City Stadium, which has a capacity of 13,000.

Spartak currently occupy the mid-table mediocrity position of 7^th, having won 11 and lost 11 of the 26 matches played. Away from home they have on captured 11 points from 13 matches though. Their squad is also mostly Serbian players, although there are three Montenegrin players and a Bosnian reserve goalkeeper in their ranks, as well as the ex Pacos Ferrerira midfielder Andrezinho adding an exotic touch to the team.  Andrezinho is not in the squad for today though. Ex Hapoel Haifa Montenegrin Stefan Denkovic is the top scorer with 7 goals. Spartak’s home colours are sky blue but today are playing in a all dark blue strip.

Subotica went into the match as 29/20 favourites to win, with Indija at 15/8 and the draw 11/5.

A minute’s silence was observed before kick-off for those who have died from the virus. As the game started it looked like there were about 50 or so spectators watching in the two small stands on the far side of the pitch, with a similar number visible behind some windows in what is either the hospitality area or the directors’ box. There didn’t seem to be much evidence of social distancing…………

The ground looked a charming hotch-potch, with the main uncovered stand along the side where the main camera was filming, a small terrace enclosure behind one goal, nothing behind the other goal ( although it looked like a steel yard or scrap metal dealers behind the wall ), and then two small covered stands with three or four rows of seats either side of the press box, and changing rooms, office and executive area.

It was also interesting to notice that the players’ names on the back of their shirts and all the advertising around the ground were in Roman script whereas the captions on the TV pictures were in Cyrillic. A quick internet search revealed that the Serbian language uses both, with Cyrillic being used in formal circumstances, and Latin in more common usage. You learn something every day !

Indija took an early lead when centre back Mihailo Jovanovic, who has previously played for three sides in the Czech Republic, stretched above his marker to head home a corner from the edge of the six-yard box.

However, the lead didn’t last long as Spartak scrambled home the equaliser after a headed corner had been blocked by the Indija keeper. The goal was credited to ex-Partizan man Montenegrin Nemanja Nikolic. 1-1 after 9 minutes

Things didn’t look good for Spartak when a minute later their second top goal scorer Lazar Tufegdzic had to go off injured, but Spartak looked the better side. Indeed, they should have taken the lead after 22 minutes when a long ball put Nikolic clear with a one on one with Indija’s keeper. He should have scored but unselfishly decided to lay off to his unmarked colleague. Unfortunately though his casual pass went straight to the retreating defender who cleared for a corner.

Ten minutes later a quick throw-in caught the Indija defence napping and again Nikolic was clear. Again, he unselfishly decided to cross to the far post rather than shoot but Jovanovic got back to clear before Sreckovic could tap-in.

It remained 1-1 at half-time, and Nikolic was substituted at the break. The second half was even with very little happening, with the one good chance falling to Indija’s Vladan Milosavljev who when put clear trod on the ball and fell over. The diminutive ex-Red Star man with experience of playing in Czech Republic, Greece, Albania and Russia looks like a player in the twilight of his career, and probably could do with losing a pound or two to continue playing at this level.

With 30 minutes to go it started raining and it quickly got heavier so that puddles were soon visible both on the pitch and the camera lens. Just when it looked like both sides had settled for a point a piece, the ball fell for Spartak’s Milan Marcic, whose long range shot with the outside of his right foot curled over the Indija keeper into the top corner of the net. A piece of quality not keeping with most of the match, although perhaps the Indija keeper might have done better.

Indija were unable to generate any clear chances in the last twenty minutes and Spartak eased to a deserved victory to leave Indija facing at best, a relegation play-off and still in danger of automatic relegation.

In truth this was a match of poor quality. Indija’s build up play was generally slow and laboured and it was fairly clear which team was struggling near the bottom of the table and which one was upper mid-table. Spartak looked the better team and had they taken their chances they could have won more easily. The player that caught the eye was Spartak’s centre back, 21 year old Mihaljo Ivancevic who looked composed and capable of playing at a decent level. It is always difficult to compare the different standards of football, but this matched looked to be comparable to Isthmian League/Southern League in the UK, and certainly inferior to the level of the Belarus Premier League. The ground had a certain appeal though, and had I been in the stadium I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed it much more than watching in my living room !

Official highlights ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKHIOywmfYE