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Korean K.League Soccer News - December 2005

John Duerden reports on Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I's championship win

There wasn't quite the same drama as the J-League offered 24 hours previously but Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I are the new champions of South Korea after defeating Incheon United in the two-legged championship play-off final.

The Tigers did the hard work in the first leg in Incheon by thrashing the hosts 5-1, a result that meant they could afford to lose the return game 2-1 in front of 35,000 cheering fans who celebrated the club's first title since 1996.

With the talent at Ulsan's disposal in recent times, the nine-year drought shouldn't have occurred but the fact is that the team had been the bridesmaid on a number of occasions when the altar was within a couple of steps.

Ulsan have a number of players on the fringes of the national side, five of whom will travel to the Middle-East and the United States with Dick Advocaat in January. The six week-tour takes in training camps in the UAE and LA as well as various friendly games and mini-tournaments.

Defender Yoo Kyoung-ryeol, Kim Jung-woo and Lee Ho in central midfield and attackers Lee Chun-soo and Choi Song-guk all have hearts set on sitting on that German-bound plane but none are certain of making the starting eleven, even Lee Chun-soo who has 50 caps for his country. However the presence of the young and talented quintet as well as old veteran Yoo Sang-cheol and wily Brazilian striker Leandro Machado in the line-up makes the south-easterners formidable opponents.

As he watched his players lift the trophy on a cold Sunday afternoon by the sea, ex-national team coach Kim Jung-nam may have been reflecting on the fact that the team almost never made the play-off series. It's easy to forget that on the last day of the regular season, Ulsan needed to win and rely on Bucheon not doing so to gain an extension to their campaign.

Within ten minutes of the final game, Ulsan were two goals down at Chonbuk Hyundai Motors and facing the prospect of another season without silverware but Lee Chun-soo and Machado dug the team out of the hole and into a semi-final with the league's form team Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.

It was a good time to face the six-time champions as they were missing hotshot strikers Kim Do-hoon and Mota. That man Lee, who was starting to enter 'crazy mode' as the local scribes put it, starred again, creating both goals for Machado and Lee Jin-ho to come from behind and win a date with Incheon United who had defeated Busan I'Park 2-0 in the other fixture.

The match-up was an interesting prospect. Two gritty industrial cities; Ulsan on the south-east coast and Incheon on the north-west; the relatively star-studded Tigers taking on the K-League's hard-working newbies, looking for a title in only their second season in existence.

The two-legged match-up was eagerly awaited by fans in the southern half of the peninsula but for the hosts of the first leg, Incheon, it didn't exactly go to plan. By half-time, United found themselves three goals down as Lee Chun-soo ran riot. The 24-year-old scored twice in the first period and made the other for the usual suspect Machado. Lee has only just returned from an unimpressive 18-month spell in Spain with Real Sociedad and Numancia and has been a revelation since arriving back at his own stomping ground midway through the season.

It was scant comfort for Incheon's impressive coach Jang Woe-ryoeng, that his team enjoyed the majority of possession but were caught by a succession of sucker punches by an Ulsan side that gave the hosts a lesson in counter-attacking.

The second half continued in much the same fashion, with Incheon doing most of the pressing but their, usually strong, defence unable to keep out the opponents. Their goalkeeper, called to the national squad for the first time a week before, had a nightmare in front of the watching Dick Advocaat. The poor performance must have been noted by the Dutchman, it certainly was by coach Jang who changed keepers for the return leg.

The first game wasn't over yet as the irrepressible Lee, rumoured to be interesting Tottenham Hotspur, and Machado both scored again to round off a thoroughly miserable day for Incheon though Dzenan Radoncic stabbed the ball home in the last minute to give United a modicum of encouragement for the return leg.

They received more down in Ulsan after 14 minutes of the second game as Kim Hyok-su in the Ulsan goal somehow threw the ball straight to Radoncic as the Serbian trotted back to the centre circle. The tall hitman accepted the gift and slotted the ball home to leave United needing 'only' three goals to take the game into extra time.

Unfirtunately for Incheon and the television watching neutrals, the required total was soon back to four as Choi Song-guk shot home from close range just four minutes later though just before the half-hour mark, Radoncic struck again to put the aggregate score at 6-3.

For the rest of the game, Incheon huffed and puffed but couldn't find the goal that would have caused a few butterflies to start circling around 35,000 watching fans in the Munsu World Cup Stadium and the game ended 2-1.

The Ulsan players danced around, as victors are wont to do, and if the gifted young squad stays together and keeps improving then the future is bright for the team to challenge at home and abroad next year. 2006 AFC Champions League group opponents recently relegated Tokyo Verdy, Indonesia's Arema Malang and Thai outfit Tobacco Monopoly should hold few fears.

Thoughts of next season can wait for a few days as Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I can celebrate their success and brave Incheon United can reflect on what might have been.

John Duerden

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