K-League Getting Into Groove

The 2007 K-League season is slowly starting to get into its stride. The first
three rounds have contained a reasonable amount of goals and excitement as the
Korean media and coaches have been telling everybody who will listen. It is
early days. Encouragingly perhaps, most of the good stuff has been shown by
the bigger clubs in the league. What is definitely promising is that those clubs
have also been getting good results too. Seoul, Ulsan, Seongnam, Pohang and
Suwon make up the top five and it will be no surprise at all if that same quintet
is doesn’t change much from now until November.

Seoul are the pacesetters and are the only perfect pick from the bunch. Even more ominous for the others is the fact that new coach Senol Gunes has yet to see his team concede a goal in 270 minutes of league football. The Turk, like many other coaches pre-season, has promised entertaining football and the team are trying – though at the moment they can only do so in fits and starts.

Seoul have yet to meet any of the big boys however – in fact none of the top five have played each other yet. Hopefully the best is yet to come. The biggest news of the past week was not the K-League or Park Ji-sung scoring two goals for Manchester United but Ahn Jung-hwan’s hat-trick in the Hauzen Cup.

The first round of the competition saw Suwon’s traditional bogey team Daejeon Citizen visit the ‘Big Bird’ Stadium. Ahn took the purple hearts apart with a display of clinical offensive play not often seen in the K-League since, well, since he left in 2000.

Two calm finishes in one-on-one situations sandwiched a sweet half-volley from a narrow angle. Instead of kissing his wedding ring as in days of yore, Ahn celebrated his goals by kissing his index finger – the nation does not yet know the reason for this change!

It was inevitable then that calls for national team coach Pim Verbeek to include
the striker in his squad to face Uruguay on March 24 increased. "As soon as
he comes back to Korea, everybody wants him back in the national team," Verbeek
told me earlier in the month.

"So do I, but not immediately. I wanted to take
some pressure from him. We have time to find out if he is the same as in 2006
and before that." As it turned out, it was too soon for the “Lord of the Ring”
but if he continues to perform domestically, few would bet against him playing
some part in the Asian Cup this summer.

He will have to watch from the sidelines on Saturday as will experienced midfielder Kim Nam-il. Ahn’s Suwon team-mate was stretchered off the pitch in last Saturday’s 1-0 win over K-League with a neck injury.

His place will be taken by new boy Son Dae-ho of Seongnam – a
midfielder that was impressive form in the second half of last season and the
beginning of this. The Seongnam new boy will be finding his way around Paju
National Football Center along with Kim Chang-soo of Daejeon Citizen, Kang Min-soo
of Chunnam Dragons and Ki Sung-young of FC Seoul.

South Korea Squad:
GK: Kim Yong-dae (Seongnam), Kim Young-kwang (Ulsan), Jung Sung-ryeong
(Pohang)
DF: Kim Chi-kon (Seoul) Kim Chi-woo, Kim Jin-kyu and
Kang Min-su (all Chunnam), Lee Young-pyo (Tottenham, England) Oh Beom-seok (Pohang)
Kim Dong-jin (Zenit, Russia) Kim Chang-soo (Daejeon)
MF: Kim
Doo-hyun, Kim Sang-shik, Son Dae-ho (All Seongna) Baek Ji-hoon (Suwon) Kim Jung-woo
(Nagoya, Japan) Ki Sung-young (Seoul) Oh Jang-eun (Ulsan) Lee Ho (Zenit, Russia)
FW: Cho Jae-jin (Shimizu, Japan) Jung Jo-gook (Seoul) Lee Chun-soo
(Ulsan) Park Ji-sung (Manchester United, England) Seol Ki-hyeon (Reading, England)
Yeom Ki-hoon (Jeonbuk) Choi Sung-kuk (Seongnam)

It's 'snow' joke
The Asian Champions League started on March 7 with two of South Korea’s three
representatives in action – champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors have a bye to the
quarter-finals. Chunnam Dragons made their debut in the competition by failing
to defeat Bangkok University.

The hosts were the happier of the two with the
goalless draw as they made the Korean FA Cup holders look very average on a
sultry Thai night. Conditions were a little different back home where Seongnam
Ilwha Chunam started their campaign with a easy-looking game with Vietnamese
outfit Dong Tam Long An.

It was a cold day just to the south of Seoul and the seven-time champions were confident of handing their opponents a sound beating.

About 30 minutes before kick-off however, it started to snow and the white stuff
just kept on coming. By kick-off the pitch was just about playable but ten minutes
into the game it was impossible to see any markings as the white carpet got
thicker and thicker.

Nobody thought to use a coloured ball and instead we were
treated to players gingerly walking around in a blizzard trying to find a white
sphere on a white background.
“Obviously it was very difficult for Dong Tam coming from Vietnam,” said Seongnam coach Kim Hak-beom with just a little understatement.
“These were the worst conditions I have ever seen.” Most of the visiting players
had never even seen snow before and it was a heavy fall even by Korean and other
standards too.

Seongnam striker Kim Dong-hyun spent last season in Russia but
said: “I never saw anything like this.” The seven-time champions won 4-1 but
the Vietnamese coaching staff, the ones not tucked beneath blankets on the bench
that is., were obviously unhappy at the start of the second half and it looked
as if the game would be abandoned. AFC and perhaps other officials intervened
and the ‘game’ restarted. “It was a mistake to continue in these conditions,”
said Portuguese coach Henrique Calisto. “My players have never experienced anything
like this before. “When Seongnam come to Vietnam we will show them some nice
and warm weather and hopefully a good game”

Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com

Seongnam Stroll To Seventh Success

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma have been crowned K-League champions for the seventh time after a 3-1 aggregate win over Suwon Samsung Bluewings in the two-legged championship play-off decider.

It was a deserved win for the team that inhabits the affluent southern Seoul suburb of Bundang as they took the first leg at home 1-0 and shocked Suwon with a fairly comfortable 2-1 win in the second match.

The first leg was a tight affair –even more so for the fans squeezed into Seongnam’s Stadium as the attendance given was 21,000 – 5,000 more than the official capacity of the airy arena.

K-League spokespeople mumbled something about a temporary increase in capacity. It may not be too important but anyone familiar with Korean football knows that if Korean teams were as creative on the pitch as officials are when announcing attendance figures then the K-League would be a much better place.

One thing is for sure; at least half of those in attendance were sporting blue shirts after making the short trek east from Suwon.

They had little to shout about. Seongnam controlled the game for long periods without looking especially dangerous against a well-drilled Suwon back-four. With the visitors failing to create anything of note, the game was heading for a goalless draw.

That was until the 88th minute. Park Jin-seob launched a long cross from the right and K-League top scorer Woo Sung-yong was allowed to sneak in at the far post between two defenders and head the ball past the flat-footed Park Hyo-jin in the Suwon goal.

It was a deserved win on the day and left things nicely poised for the second leg with Suwon going for a fourth title and their second in three years in front of their own fans.

Those supporters turned out in force though the official 38,500 attendance was surprisingly swelled by the presence of over 5,000 yellow-shirted away fans at the ‘Big Bird'. The Seongnam fans took advantage of free travel to give the K-League’s most successful but worst supported team some vocal backing in the second leg.

Suwon boss Cha Bum-keun gave those critics who believe that he may have been a great player but he ain’t a great coach extra fuel by sticking playmaker Lee Kwan-woo on the right wing and drafting in Park Ju-song in defence. The 22 year-old had just returned from his two year military spell with Gwangju Sangmu and looked lost.

He was put out of his misery at half-time but by then the damage was done as Seongnam have something that Suwon lack – strikers that don’t need asking twice to put the ball into the net.

2004 K-League top scorer Mota has not had the best season at Seongnam – a broken ankle is responsible for that – but he showed all his predatory instincts after 26 minutes as he flicked the ball into the Suwon net from close range, despite the attentions of a blue-shirted defender.

From that moment, the hosts’ hopes of a quartet of titles looked doomed. Suwon were short of ideas, movement and perhaps most worryingly, motivation.

It didn’t improve much in the second half. The introduction of a disappointing Da Silva and young striker Seo Dong-hyun looked lightweight compared to Seongnam’s substitutions which brought the K-League’s top scorer Woo Sung-yong and international star Kim Sang-sik onto the pitch.

It wasn’t until Mota, left unmarked at the near post, scored his second and Seongnam’s third of the fixture midway through the second half that Suwon roused themselves to finally trouble Kim Yong-dae in the Seongnam goal.

Da Silva lifted his barrel-chest into the air with 14 minutes left to head home and hand the hosts a lifeline though with two goals still required, it was a tenuous one. So it proved and it was all over with three minutes remaining when striker Seo dragged a shot wide of the post with only ‘keeper Kim to beat.

It was very much a case of too little, too late from the Bluewings who can console themselves with the FA Cup final against Chunnam Dragons on December 3.

Seongnam rejoiced with a seventh title and a crack at the 2007 Asian Champions League when their line-up may contain a certain Mr. Ahn Jung-hwan.

Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile

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Seoul Guide

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Seoul Seething At Goal That Never Was

It hasn’t been a great season of football in the 2006 K-League and the same could be said of the championship play-off semi-finals that took place last weekend. However, there was enough to fill the sports pages for a few days in the South Korean media.

There was little hint of the approaching storm on a bright but chilly Saturday afternoon just to the south of the capital when Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and FC Seoul were approaching the end of the first half.

Given the nature of the K-League and the importance of the game, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the score with five minutes to go before the break was goalless.

In a bid to break the deadlock, Seoul's long-haired Portuguese playmaker Ricardo took a corner for the visitors and the ball fell to team-mate and defender Han Tae-yoon. His low shot, stabbed through a crowded penalty area, looked destined for the back of the net until Seongnam defender Park Jin-seob intervened.

The only problem was that when he did so, television replays have shown that the ball looked to be behind the line. The referee waved away the red-shirted protests and seconds later, as the laws of football decree, Seongnam’s Brazilian hot-shot striker Mota found acres of space in the Seoul penalty area to stroke the ball home for the only goal of the game.

Obviously Seoul and the travelling fans were not happy. Coach Lee Jang-soo said after the game.

“I am a football man and not one to complain,” complained Lee after the game “but it was clearly a goal and the wrong decision.”

“We have worked so hard this season to get here and we now feel that it is so unfair. I can’t understand that this linesman went to the World Cup.”

Lee can’t be that much of a football man if he believes that appearances at World Cups are signs off competence in either playing or officiating fields. Still, it was a classic manager’s reaction to a bad decision.

The official site’s reaction was less understandable, screaming that, “thieves have stolen our championship tickets.” It didn’t stop there the fact that the linesman was due to retire was lamented as it meant that he couldn’t be punished while the referee was accused of pretending not to see the ball cross the line.



‘Twas a classless reaction especially as Seongnam had a second-half goal ruled out for an offside which clearly wasn’t. Still, there’s nothing wrong with a nice slice of controversy to accompany a big game.

And what of the game? It was a fairly even affair though the hosts shaded it. Seoul had more of the possession but Seongnam, going for a seventh title, looked more dangerous around the box and had better chances.

There was no such uproar the following day when Suwon Samsung Bluewings took on Pohang Steelers, just a good old-fashioned strong defensive performance by Suwon who took the game 1-0.



Suwon may lack the forward line of Seongnam but the Bluewings’ midfield is an excellent one. National team captain Kim Nam-il sits behind the inspirational playmaker Lee Kwan-woo and international midfielder Baek Ji-hoon, who since joining Suwon, has started to turn into an all-action midfielder.


He scored the only goal of the game and a fantastic strike it was too. A scorching shot from 25 yards that cannoned off the underside of the crossbar to hit the back of the net with the Pohang ‘keeper helpless.



The Steelers’ attempts to get back into the game were frustrated by a well-organised and well-drilled Suwon defence that even repulsed the returning Lion King in his bid for glory. Lee Dong-guk had missed the World Cup and seven months of the season through injury but the Pohang star was back at the right time to shoot the Steelers to a first title in 14 years.





It wasn’t meant to be and on Sunday, Seongnam and Suwon do battle in the first of two legs.


Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile

K-League News and Interviews

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Seoul Complete Play-Off Line-Up

The regular season of the 2006 K-League is over -now four of the fourteen teams that started the season will do battle in the championship play-offs starting on November 12.

The line-up is:

Saturday November 12

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma - FC Seoul

Sunday November 13

Suwon Samsung Bluewings - Pohang Steelers

On the final weekend of the regular season, only Seoul had yet to secure its place but did so with a sluggish 1-0 win over Gyeongnam FC on a day when the first fingers of winter could be felt by the 17,000 fans in the cavernous Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Rumours from those in the know suggest that Seoul coach Lee Jang-soo is done for, whatever happens in the next three weeks. Fans of the club will be hoping that if he does go, he will leave the K-League trophy behind.

It is unlikely as Seoul have looked uninspired for the majority of the season and would usually come-off second best against Seongnam. However, Seongnam, having booked their play-off place months ago, have not won for the last five games – and even allowed the shot-shy Jeju United and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to score three goals each.

Whether coach Kim Hak-bom can get his players back to their form earlier in the season remains to be seen but the six-time champions are better bets to lift a seventh title than FC Seoul are to win their first (or fourth if one includes Anyang Cheetahs’ three triumphs before the club was uprooted and moved to the capital in 2004).

Suwon took the second stage with a series of effective rather than impressive performances. The same can’t be said of midfielders Lee Kwan-woo and Baek Ji-hoon who have made the difference since respectively heading north from Daejeon and south from Seoul in the summer.

Last not probably not least are Pohang Steelers, a team that has gone about its business quietly. Brazilian boss Sergio Farias has built a solid team that scores more and concedes less than most.

To make matters better, Lee Song-gook has returned to the line-up after seven months out with a torn cruciate ligament. The injury kept the Lion King out of the World Cup but he announced his return in emphatic fashion in the last game of the season. Three minutes after coming off the bench, Lee headed home to give Pohang three points at the home of champions Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.

For those who believe in such things, some have suggested (OK, only me) that fate will propel Lee to clinch the title for his team and end what has been a miserable year on a high.

Changes to the K-League

Those boffins at the K-League like to keep things interesting. Upon realizing that the league was in danger of heading for a fourth season without being tinkered with, they got off their backsides and did something about it – for the twelfth time in 24 years.

The two-stage season has been cut back down to one but the league is hoping that the excitement will not be similarly reduced.

To such an end, one team will be promoted from the second tier N-League to expand the top flight to fifteen teams and 28 games.

The number of teams qualifying for the play-offs has been expanded to six. Concerned about attendances in the league, the powers-that-be have decided that such a move will generate more interest and excitement.

With the absence of relegation and champions league qualification, play-offs are a necessary evil in the league but extending the privilege to six – 40% of clubs - is excessive.

As that old football saying goes:

“Too many clubs spoils the play-offs.”

Lee Chun-soo

The biggest star in the K-League has been hit with a big ban for swearing at referee Lee Yong-chol in Ulsan’s recent 1-0 defeat at Incheon United.

Playing in his hometown, Lee took umbrage to the fact that the ref disallowed an Ulsan equaliser after Lee Jong-min bundled the ball into the net with his hand.

Lee left fly and was soon on his way off the pitch and possibly out of the K-League.

The K-League handed him a three-match ban and then his club sentenced him to three days community service.

"We've come to the conclusion of ordering him to take responsibility for his misconduct with the community service," the champions said in a press release.

“His deed really disappointed fans and tarnished our club's honour."

Lee, who rejected a move to Portsmouth last August, was repentant - in public at least.

“I will accept my punishment,” said the baseball-cap sporting star after the hearing.

“I am very sorry. As a professional player I want to win every game and play well but what I did wasn’t necessary.

“I would like to say sorry to the fans that go to the stadium because they love football. After the sending off I reflected deeply on what I had done.”

"I’d like an opportunity to apologise to the referee directly. I will use this experience to try and become a more mature player.”

And before anybody familiar with the opinionated winger asks, no, it wasn't possible to tell if his fingers were crossed.

Copyright - John Duerden & Soccerphile

K-League News and Interviews

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