Korean K.League Soccer News - Oct 19 2004

John Duerden reports from Seoul

We're around the halfway mark in the second stage and the K-League is as close as Sven and David. Maybe the domestic teams are trying to take Korean soccer fans' minds off some dismal international performances by the national team.

Despite the ongoing problem of a lack of goals, only seven points separate leaders Suwon Bluewings and bottom-placed Pohang. The team that POSCO built won the first stage fairly comfortably and cynics will not be surprised to see the Steelers floundering at the foot of the table in the second. One of the disadvantages of the two-stage system is that the winners of the first stage qualify for the championship play-offs so, despite the K-League's money reward for winning a stage, there is little incentive for the first-stage champs to give 110% in the second.

One of the advantages that a 'two-stager' provides, especially with the K-League's system of having four teams in the play-offs (the two stage winners and the two teams with the most overall points) is that it does mean that many teams are still in with a shout of becoming Korean champions.

Look at Daegu FC. The team that hails from the city famous for its apples is enjoying its second bite of the cherry in 2004. The first stage saw the relative newcomers to the league (joined in 2003) finish eighth with a wealth of goals, by K-League standards, being scored and conceded.

Coach Park Chong-hwan has tinkered with the right end and now his team lies in third, three points behind the leaders Suwon, with a game in hand. To reach the play-offs, Daegu will probably have to win the second stage outright, winning the next game will help as it is the leaders themselves who will travel south-west to visit Daegu's World Cup Stadium on Halloween.

The table will make scary reading for defending Champions Seongnam as it occupies second-bottom spot, just above first stage winners, Pohang. These two teams, having just fought out a limp 1-1 draw, will not have expected to be looking up at Incheon and Bucheon in mid-table.

Mid-table mediocrity is heaven for perennial strugglers Bucheon and its struggling financial backers, SK. A 76th minute winner at Gwangju, courtesy of Malian striker Cheick Oumar Dabo, gave the 2003 wooden spoon winners its second straight win and lifted the team above Incheon who has adapted to life without ex-coach Werner Lorant surprisingly well. However, tougher tests lie ahead for Bucheon and Incheon as they face Chunnam and Ulsan respectively in their next games. The Dragons and the Tigers are two of the teams, along with Suwon, Chonbuk and Seoul, who are hoping to win the second stage outright or qualify for the play-offs through total points amassed.

FC Seoul seems to be quite well placed in both races, well, at least it did until suffering a surprise home defeat to then bottom-placed Daejeon on October 16th. The capital's team has found it as hard to hang on to its new fans as it did to hang on to the top spot. 48,000 crammed into the World Cup stadium back in the opening fixture in March; 43,000 more than came last Saturday. Those remaining saw the Citizen's defender Chang Hyun-gyu head in the winner on 72 minutes.

Despite losing the opening two games of stage two, Suwon Bluewings lies in top spot in both the second stage and the overall table. Cha Beum-kun's team has since knocked up an impressive thirteen points from a possible fifteen. Suwon's fans will not be too concerned that the last three victories have been by a single goal to zero as the 2001 and 2002 Asian Club champs look to return to the continental competition. The Bluewing's Brazilian front two, Nadson and Marcel are the ones providing the crucial goals; twenty-two between them so far this season.

At the opposite end of the pitch, national keeper, Lee Woon-jae's form has been questioned somewhat in 2004 and his place seems to be under threat from Kim Dae-hwan who has taken over between the posts during Lee's excursions with the national team. Kim, at 28, three years younger than the World Cup hero, has kept two impressive clean sheets in Suwon's last two 1-0 victories, including a vital win over rivals Ulsan while Lee has been making mistakes for the national team in its quest to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

Asian Champions League – Korean semi-success

The 2004 K-League season hasn't been the most exciting of spectacles but the whole country can be proud of its two representatives in the AFC Champions League, demonstrating the strength of its domestic set-up.

Seongnam has had a torrid time attempting to defend its domestic crown for the fourth successive season and hasn't even come close, but its continental performances have been outstanding. After dispatching of Japanese champs, Yokohama Marinos, in the group stage the Korean champs disposed of UAE outfit Sharjah, 11-2 on aggregate in the quarterfinals. A much tougher prospect, Uzbekistan side Pakhtakor awaits Seongnam in the semis after also disposing of a UAE team fairly comfortably.

Chonbuk Hyundai Motor's draw looked anything but comfortable, being against the competition's holders, Al Ain, the third of the UAE teams to be knocked out in the quarterfinal stage. Many football watchers in Asia, Korea included, felt that it would be difficult for the Korean FA Cup holders to reproduce the impressive 1-0 win at Al Ain's Tahnon Bin Mohammed stadium.

In fact, back in East Asia, the Koreans didn't sit on their slender advantage gained from the first leg, which came in the last minute from the head of Brazilian Andre Gomes; instead the Motors tore into the 2003 Asian Champions, running out 4-1 winners on the night and 5-1 on aggregate: a truly fantastic achievement. Motors fans will be hoping that the run continues into the semis against Saudi powerhouse Al Ittihad, who squeezed past Chinese champs, Dalian Shide.

The first leg of the semi-finals will be played on 19th and 20th October and the return legs on 26th and 27th October.

K- League Centurions

The heading doesn't refer to a new team but Kim Do-hoon's fantastic achievement in becoming only the fourth player in K-League history to score a century of goals. The 2003 K-League top scorer has struggled for goals this season, as has his team, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, but the historic moment came in last Saturday's draw with Pohang Steelers. The 34-year-old netted a 24th minute penalty, which ensures that he joins the exclusive 100 club with only Kim Hyun-seok, Yoo Sang-chul and Sasa Drakulic as fellow members.

It is only a matter of time before Seongnam's captain; Shin Tae-yong also scores the one goal that he needs to chalk up a hundred. Shin and Kim have been involved in a friendly race to reach 100 goals first.

Just how friendly was demonstrated in September when Shin, the usual penalty taker, allowed Kim to take a penalty, which the striker duly scored, bringing the two 34-year-olds together on ninety-nine. The skipper said that he didn't want to bring up his century with a penalty kick; after the game, Kim promised the same. However as Shin was sitting on the bench when the Pohang penalty was awarded, maybe boss Cha Kyung-bok, with Seongnam's recent form in mind, stepped in and told his striker to step up.

K.League Table October 16 2004

Overall Table

* (Pohang as first stage winners-automatically qualify). As it stands Suwon, Ulsan, Chonbuk and Pohang will contest the championship play-offs.

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