Official 2008 K-League Thread

[Dasher39]

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6747/kleagueal0.jpg

Like the J-League, the K-League also kicked off last weekend.

Given we have an ACL opponent from the K-League we will be keeping a close eye on the league to see how Chunnam are travelling.

Pohang Steelers were last seasons Champions, although they finished 5th after the H&A season and won the K-League by virtue of the finals. So it's safe to say neither ACL representative is a K-League heavy hitter.

From my limited knowledge of K-League Football, Suwon Samsung and FC Seoul seem to be two of the bigger clubs. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors also won the ACL two years ago so they can't be all that bad. Magpie will be able to give us more information given he is living in Korea.

Results so far this weekend:
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 1-2 FC Seoul
Daejon Citizen 0-2 Jeju United
Ulsan Hyundai H-i 3-0 Pohang Steelers

[NUFCMVFC]

Good stuff Dasher, here's some Youtube highlights

Busan vs Jeonbuk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxKUWwgHD8k

Suwon vs Daejong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWJit5w_6BM&feature=related

[Dasher39]

Good stuff.

That first goal from Suwon was a bloody cracker, and they have a decent set of fans too. I have heard they have the best fans in the K-League. Too bad they didn't make the ACL.

Given their Samsung link we should be trying to organise something between our clubs. I know they have a sort of Sister Club arrangement with Chelsea. I wouldn't be thinking anything along those lines, but a few Friendly games maybe.

[Dasher39]

Further to my previous post about Suwon's fans, here is some clips.

They have the name "Grand Bleu".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC-9g3Ad7Sk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6lhA_Zckns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKmOv6zuq6Y

Some nice stuff there!

[magpie]

I was at the Suwon / Daejon game. The Suwon fans are the best in Korea by a country mile, still not a patch on Urawa though.

The game itself was pretty crap except for those 2 cracking goals by Edu, the rest of the game was pretty poor quality. Seems like most Korean players don't want to take any risks at all, so never play through balls or have a crack from outside the box.

Heres a couple of pics, oh there stadium is awesome by the way. Holds about 40k, nice, small and compact. Our new home will be something like this which will be fantastic.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/4144/img2667un1.jpg

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/8854/img2697hd5.jpg

oh and they ripped flares too...HOOLIGANS!!!

[NUFCMVFC]

Pohang Steelers lose again (http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/pohang-steelers-lose-again-108288/)

15 March 2008 | 21:27 - PA Sport

K-League champions Pohang Steelers suffered a second defeat in three days after Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i claimed a 3-0 victory at the start of the second round of domestic action.


Pohang, who opened their Asian Champions League campaign with a 2-0 defeat by Australian A-League outfit Adelaide United in midweek, had the better of the early chances with midfielder Kim Jae-sung heading against a post after just 11 minutes.

But a minute later, Ulsan took the lead as Yeom Ki-hoon's pinpoint cross picked out Lee Jin-ho, who headed past Pohang goalkeeper Shin Hwa-yong from close range.

Lee struck the Pohang upright shortly after, but Ulsan doubled the lead seven minutes after the break as the Steelers handed Brasilia too much space inside the area and the Brazilian frontman made no mistake.

Substitute Woo Sung-yong headed home a corner midway through the second half to seal the win and propel Ulsan to the top of the table.

Opening day winners Gyeongnam FC, Incheon United, Suwon Bluewings and Busan I Park are set to play their second round matches on Sunday.

FC Seoul recorded a 2-1 victory against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to join Ulsan at the top of the standings, while Jeju United picked up their first points of the new season with a 2-0 victory over Daejeon Citizen.

Seoul took the lead after just four minutes as Serbian striker Dejan Damjanovic side-footed home from inside the penalty area to record his first goal for the club following his winter move from Incheon United.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors hit back just before the break as South Korea international striker Cho Jae-jin finished off a fine move to also open his account for his new club.

But with two minutes remaining, Park Chu-young latched on to Choi Won-kwon's header to give Seoul the three points.


Wonder what happened with Chunnam?

[Dasher39]

Suwon drew 2-2 with Seongnam overnight.

Incheon lead the pack after 2 weeks!

[dudditz]

The quality of the goals from those matches was top class. Some beautiful passing and interplay followed by great finishes. Perhaps the Thunder could aim for a kit similar to Busan's? Edu looks fairly sharp, two great goals from him.

[NUFCMVFC]

Latest roundup from TWG


Pohang lose again (http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/asia/pohang-lose-again-109087/)

29 March 2008 | 21:08 - PA Sport

South Korea champions Pohang Steelers lost their second consecutive game in the K-League as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at home to leaders Incheon United on Saturday.


The match was Pohang's first since a 4-1 win in the Asian Champions League at Vietnamese side Binh Duong 10 days ago. Adelaide United are also in the group.

Kim Yong-bin opened the scoring for Incheon immediately after the interval and the game was as good as over midway through the second half when midfielder Dragan Mladenovic put United further ahead.

Pohang's Brazilian striker Denilson headed home an injury-time consolation for the hosts, who are next in continental action on April 9 when they host Chinese champions Changchun Yatai.

Fellow Asian Champions League participants Chunnam Dragons picked up their first point of the season at home to fellow strugglers Daejeon Citizen.

As well as losing the first two games of the K-League season, Chunnam are also without a point in the continental competition but had something to cheer about on the half-hour mark.

Koh Ki-goo was making his first appearance for the club after recovering from a groin injury and the striker put Chunnam in front, heading home Song Jung-hyun's cross.

But eight minutes after the break Kim Yong-tae earned Daejeon a share of the points.

"We still have injuries and March has been a struggle for us," Chunnam coach Park Hang-seo said after the match.

"We have some time before the next match and will be able to prepare well but it was frustrating not to get the three points."

Elsewhere, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma picked up their first win of the season with a 3-0 away triumph at Jeju United, while a last-minute goal gave Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I a 2-1 win over 2006 Asian Champions League winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.


Both Chunnam and Pohang seemed to have gotten off to a slowish start, Chunnam in particular. They will probably have gotten it together a bit more once we play them again though in May, particularly if they have influential players coming back from injury. Hopefully we still defeat them away and build some good momentum into the last month of ACL following the Gamba ties

[NUFCMVFC]

This is probably a bit behind schedule, but here are soem Round 2 goals that have been put up on Youtube, will keep an eye out for round 3

Seongname vs Suwon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0J0XbyrdmE

That last free kick was an absolute bullet

Jeonbuk vs GS(?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW_vwF3OV3M&feature=related

and Ulsan vs Pohang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svib28m2JSM&feature=related

Some nicely worked goals there, its early days and I still haven't gauged the teams but I am personally starting to warm towards Ulsan at this point in time, like their colours (not too different from MVFC's at a pinch and they have stripes like a certain NUFC) and they seemed to play some nice football, their fans are dark bluish like our as well

[magpie]

Suwon just smashed Kyeongnam 3-0 on a wet night in Suwon. Suwon looking the goods this season.

[still_rocking]

I went and saw Incheon FC play Busan while I was over in Korea. Missed the first 30 minutes, but it was still 0-0. Incheon got 2-0 early in the 2nd before Busan scored 2 late goals.

Interestingly Busan played a lot better when Reinaldo went off! He was shite!

[Dasher39]

Congratulations to Suwon Bluewings who finished the K-League regular season in top spot which will see them qualify for the 2009 Asian Champions League and also sends them straight through to the K-League Final in a months time.

FC Seoul by virtue of finishing second are assured of at least a Top 3 finish (after playoffs) which will also see them qualify for the 2009 Asian Champions League.

So the K-League Playoff's will go as follows:

Match A
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma vs Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Tancheon Stadium
November 22nd

Match B
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i vs Pohang Steelers
Ulsan Stadium
November 23rd

Match C
Winner A vs Winner B
November 26th

Match D
FC Seoul vs Winner C
November 30th

K-League Final
Winner D vs Suwon Bluewings
December 3rd

Suwon Bluewings vs Winner D
December 7th


So given that the top 3 after the playoffs will qualify for the 2009 ACL, Suwon and FC Seoul are already guaranteed two of those spots. The other team will come from Seongnam, Ulsan, Pohang or Jeonbuk.

The fourth team from Korea to enter the 2009 ACL will come from the KFA Cup, which just completed the quarter finals this week with the following results:

Daegu FC 2-1 Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
Goyang Kookmin Bank 1-1 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (Goyang win on penalties)
Pohang Steelers 1-1 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (Pohang win on penalties)
Gyeongnam FC 1-0 Gwangju Sangmu

So unless Pohang get up and win we're going to have one of the lowly ranked K-League teams again make the ACL.