May 29, 2023
Being a May bank holiday in the UK, it was time for the annual look at a game in the South Korean K-League.
Both of today’s sides were featured in these diaries back in May 2020, when the K-League became the first “major” football league to resume after the outbreak of Covid-19. Jeonbuk played in the first match to be played, which attracted such global attention it was even shown live on the BBC website. Thanks to a late goal from 41 year old ex-Middlesborough substitute striker Lee Dong Gook, Jeonbuk defeated Suwon Bluewings 1-0.
Of their overseas players that season, ex Notts Forest South African forward Lars Veldwijk and Brazilian winger Murilo are now with Suwon FC, whilst Japanese forward Takawiro Kunimoto is now playing in Portugal for Casa Pia.
Young striker Gue-Sung Cho made his debut in that game against the Bluewings and has returned to Jeonbuk after serving two years national service, during which he played for Gimcheon Sangmu. He also notably scored twice against Ghana in the 2022 World Cup and was the K-League’s leading scorer in 2022.
Pohang Steelers were covered in a home game against FC Seoul, which they lost 1-2. Their three foreign players have also moved and like Jeonbuk, two of them are still plying their trade in South Korea. Russian striker Stanislav Iljutcenko and Serbian midfield play-maker Alessandr Palocevic are now both with FC Seoul, and whilst Colombian midfielder Manuel Palacios joined Seongnam he has since moved on to Chengdu in China.
Jeonbuk won the league in 2020 whereas the Steelers finished 3rd. Both played in the 2021 AFC Champions League, and Pohang went on to reach the final, where they lost 0-2 to Saudi side Al Hilal. In 2021, Jeonbuk again won the title ( their 9th ) but Pohang came a disappointing 9th, although they recovered to finish 3rd again last season as Jeonbuk relinquished their title to Ulsan Hyundai.
By their standard’s Jeonbuk have had a shocking start to this season, sitting in 7th place in the table today with a 5-3-6 record and having lost 6 of their opening 10 matches. However, they went into today’s game unbeaten in their last four. They don’t appear to have adequately replaced ex Swansea City and Reading Gambian forward Modou Barrow, who contributed 13 goals and 6 assists last season.
The Jeonbuk line-up today included 4 current South Korean internationals ( plus another on the bench ) plus 3 others with caps for their country. The one legionnaire in their XI was ex Lugano and Cruzeiro Brazilian midfielder Rafael Silva whilst Brazilian striker Gustavo, who has scored 28 goals for the club since joining in 2020 was a substitute.
In contrast, Pohang were one of three sides level on 24 points but 4th in the ladder on goal difference, a distant 13 points behind runaway leaders Ulsan. They possessed a 6-6-2 record, with the defeats come at the hands of Incheon United ( H 0-2 ) and Jeju United ( A 1-2 ). When these two sides met earlier in the season in Jeonju, Steelers emerged victorious by a 2-1 scoreline in front of a crowd of 12,767, with Baek and Zeca the scorers.
In comparison to the star-studied Jeonbuk team, Steelers had only one current South Korean international, 21 year old attacking midfielder Young-Joon Goh, who had just one cap but was his team’s top scorer with 5 goals. Three other players had made a handful of appearances for the national team, but less than 10 caps in total between them.
Pohang’s foreign players were three Brazilians, ex-Daegu Brazilian forward Zeca, Brazilian midfielder Oberdan and forward Wanderson, who is not to be confused with the player of the same name who played for Vitebsk in Belarus. Pohang also had one Asian player, namely ex-Portsmouth, Havant & Waterlooville, Macclesfield and Perth Glory Australian centre-back Alexander Grant.
Pohang’s home ground is the 17,442 capacity Pohang Steelyard and their average attendance so far this season was 8,150. They have won the K-League title on 5 occasions, although the last of these was 2013.
It was raining heavily at the 16.30 local kick-off time, with most of the crowd sporting waterproof plastic sheets, which would be familiar to anyone who had the misfortunate to watch Brighton at Withdean when it was raining ! Nevertheless, a healthy crowd had braved the weather to cheer on their favourites. The temperature was reportedly 19 degrees
The match was shown live on tv.kleague.com, with no commentary, and also on Bet365.com, who made Pohang 5/4 favourites, with Jeonbuk at 21/10 and the draw at 11/5.
Pohang normally play in red and black but today wore a dutch-like orange shirts and white shorts, whilst Jeonbuk were in dark green shirts with black shorts.
Jeonbuk had the first half chance of the match after 4 minutes. Midfielder Seon-Min Moon was played into space down the left-hand channel but his left-footed shot from a tight angle flashed across the face of goal and went wide. After that though, the home side dominated the rest of the half.
After 16 minutes the lively Goh saw his header from 8 yards tipped over the bar, and from the resulting corner, Lee’s header bounced the wrong side of the upright.
Motors’ keeper Jeong-Hoon Kim had to be alert to push away a long range free-kick in the 32nd minute and 4 minutes later Zeca headed against the post from close range. Goh was the put clear down the left and after bearing down on goal, he steered his shot on to the top of the bar and over. In added on time, Goh met a right-wing cross with a header from a tight angle beyond the far post that keeper Kim couldn’t handle, but Goh could only fire the rebound across the goalmouth and the ball was cleared to safety.
Needing to improve on their first half display, Jeonbuk brought on the peroxide blonde midfielder Min-Kyu Song ( 13 caps and joint top scorer this season on three ) who created the first chance of the new half. After the ball was spread out wide by Moon to Song on the right, Dong-Jun Lee attempted a back-heel to his low cross, but the ball struck the Steelers’ keeper’s leg to bounce off for a corner.
Pohang opened the scoring in the 65th minute. Goh received the ball on the right mid-way inside his own half and starting to run at the Jeonbuk defence. He brushed off a flimsy challenge from Jin-Su Kim, and with Jeong backing off, Goh ignored team-mate Ho-Jae Lee, who had strayed into an offside position, and took aim. Although the keeper had narrowed the angle, Goh’s effort proved too powerful and went through the keeper’s attempted block and nestled in the back of the net. As the cliché goes, the keeper would have been disappointed by his attempt to make the save…….
Goh nearly had a second opportunity three minutes later, alertly running onto a quickly taking free-kick as the Motors’ back-line were in neutral and rounded the advancing keeper, but slipped attempting to keep the ball in play.
Jeonbuk responded with a good move that saw Song tee up Cho, but the shot was weak and straight at keeper Hwang, who saved easily.
Pohang looked more likely to extend their lead rather than Jeonbuk levelling the scores. Jun-Ho Lee had a snap-shot tipped over the bar in added on time, and the subsequent in-swinging corner was flapped at by the keeper and drifted just wide of the far upright.
As the game moved into the 6 minute of added time Han made a promising run down the right but his dangerous ball into the danger zone was intercepted by the sliding Grant at the expense of a corner. After the set-piece was cleared, the Steelers defence backed off inviting Ryu to have a long-range shot, which he did, but it was easily blocked. When the ball was hoofed clear, the referee blew for full-time.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw6MGLzwowA
Pohang Steelers : IJ Hwang – SW Park, CR Ha, Grant, SM Sim – SD Kim ( IS Kim ), Oberdan, YJ Goh ( JH Kim ), SM Lee ( HJ Lee ), SD Baek ( KH Shin ) – Zeca ( Wanderson )
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors : JH Kim – MH Kim ( JM Ryu ), TW Jeong, JA Ku, JS Kim – DJ Lee ( KW Han ), SB Lee ( CS Choi ), JS Park, Silva ( MK Song ), SM Moon ( Gustavo ) – GS Cho
