K League 1 Jeonbuk, first to fall to Final B Daejeon with ‘Hwang Seon-hong’ escapes relegation zone
K League 1 Jeonbuk, first to fall to Final B Daejeon with ‘Hwang Seon-hong’ escapes relegation zone
Blog Article
Jeonbuk Hyundai of the professional soccer K League 1 drew with FC Seoul, confirming its first-ever 'elimination from the Final B'.
Jeonbuk drew 0-0 with Seoul in the 29th round home game of Hana Bank K League 1 2024 held at Jeonju World Cup Stadium on the 1st.
After the worst slump at the beginning of the season, Jeonbuk took a long time to stabilize its performance even after manager Dan Petrescu stepped down and manager Kim Du-hyeon took over. With this loss, Jeonbuk will play the split round in Final B.
Even if Jeonbuk (7 wins, 9 draws, 13 losses), currently in 11th place with 30 points, wins all four remaining games, they will not be able to surpass Pohang Steelers (44 points), which is the 6th place criterion for advancement to the Final A.
This is the first time since the introduction of the split league in 2012 that Jeonbuk, once the 'absolute powerhouse' of the K-League, is competing in the lower split.
However, Jeonbuk has already set 'escaping relegation' as its realistic goal for this season, rather than 'entering the Final A'.
Jeonbuk, which had won two games in a row up until the previous round, continued its undefeated streak for three games.
5th place Seoul (13 wins, 7 draws, 9 losses, 46 points) failed to extend its winning streak to 6 games and entered the A-match break with its upward momentum slowing down.
Seoul, which showed an unrivaled performance among the 12 K-League teams in the summer, could have raised its ranking to the threshold of the top group if it had won today.
Seoul also failed to continue their winning streak, but extended their undefeated streak to six games.
Jeonbuk, who had been pressuring Seoul from the start, tried to score in a goal-bound melee less than a minute after kickoff, but failed to score early due to Thiago's inaccurate finishing.
In the 18th minute of the first half, Han Kook-young boldly broke through to the right side of the goal area and cut back, but this also did not result in a goal.
In the 39th minute of the first half, Jeonbuk created a threatening scene with left fullback Kim Tae-hyun's left penetration and ground cross, but that was all.
Seoul also lacked sharpness in attack, with Lucas' shots missing the goal in both the first and second halves.
In the second half, the brilliant saves of both teams' goalkeepers maintained the '0-0 balance'.
In the 36th minute of the second half, Jesse Lingard's shot from the right side of the goal area was blocked by Jeonbuk goalkeeper Kim Jun-hong. In the subsequent Jeonbuk counterattack, Lee Seung-woo's shot from the front of the goal area failed to get past Seoul goalkeeper Kang Hyun-moo.
Daejeon Hana Citizen, with 'Hwang Seon-hong-ho', finally escaped the relegation zone by crushing Gwangju FC 2-0 at home. They also went on to have a 5-game undefeated streak.
Since the 1-1 draw against Daegu FC on July 27, Daejeon has swept 11 points with 3 wins and 2 draws in 5 games.
With this, Daejeon (7 wins, 10 draws, 12 losses, 32 goals) has moved up to 9th place, pushing Incheon United (both 31 points, 31 goals) down to 10th place.
On the other hand, 7th place Gwangju (12 wins, 1 draw, 16 losses, 37 points), which was aiming to advance to the upper split, suffered three consecutive league losses and its mood darkened.
From the start of the game, the forward pressure tactics that coach Hwang Sun-hong employed against Gwangju, led by coach Lee Jung-hyo, were effective.
Yoon Do-young, a promising player born in 2006, received a pass from 커뮤니티 Masa, who took advantage of goalkeeper Kim Kyung-min's mistake and stole the ball, and calmly kicked it in to score the first goal just 50 seconds after kickoff.
After that, Daejeon, which blocked Gwangju's unique attack development from the rear with strong pressure from Masa, Lee Soon-min, Yoon Do-young, and Lee Soon-min, maintained the initiative until the middle of the second half.
After 30 minutes in the second half, Gwangju took advantage of the Daejeon players' lack of stamina to launch an offensive, but were blocked by goalkeeper Lee Chang-geun's successive saves.
In the 34th minute of the second half, Lee Chang-geun also provided an accurate assist to Kim In-gyun, who was running through the back of Gwangju, with a surprise long pass.
Kim In-gyun, who started to accelerate from below the half-line and overwhelmed the Gwangju defense with his speed, advanced to the goal and made it 2-0 with a left-footed shot.
Gangwon FC (15 wins, 6 draws, 8 losses) drew 2-2 with Suwon FC at home and maintained their lead in this round.
They briefly conceded a comeback to Ulsan HD (48 goals) in the 29th round the day before, but rose to the top again (53 goals, 51 points) in just one day.
In addition, by widening the point gap with 7th place Gwangju to 14, Gangwon has also secured a spot in the final A. Even if they lose all their matches before the start of the split round and Gwangju wins all their matches, Gangwon will not fall below 6th place.
Suwon FC (14 wins, 6 draws, 9 losses, 48 points) also maintained their 3rd place after being down until the end of the game and seemingly losing, but earning 1 point with a dramatic goal.
Gangwon, who took a 1-0 lead with an own goal by veteran midfielder Son Jun-ho just 3 minutes after the start of the game, conceded a goal in the 21st minute of the first half to Anderson, who has been in good form recently.
The ball that Yoo In-soo failed to clear properly in the penalty box went to Anderson, who was in front of the goal, and led to a goal.
The balance of the tight match tilted towards Gangwon in the early part of the second half.
Fullback Hwang Moon-ki, who was selected by coach Hong Myung-bo to join the national team for the first time in his life, delivered the winning goal with a precise right-footed cross just 2 minutes into the second half. Striker Kovacevic finished off Hwang Moon-ki's cross with a high-point header to make it 2-1.
As the one-goal lead continued into the second half, Gangwon's coach Yoon Jung-hwan instructed to 'consolidate' the lead.
It seemed that Gangwon players, trying not to give their opponents any openings, were blocking Suwon FC's attacks without giving up a goal by forming a line at the back.
However, the victory was lost when Choi Gyu-baek headed in a goal following Jeong Seung-won's cross just before the end of the game.
8th place Jeju United (11 wins, 2 draws, 16 losses, 35 points) escaped their 3-game losing streak by beating 4th place Gimcheon Sangmu (13 wins, 8 draws, 8 losses, 47 points) 1-0 at home.
Jeju, which had been overwhelming in the first half in terms of possession, shots, and other game indicators but had not scored, finally saw results in the 14th minute of the second half.
Jeju was awarded a penalty kick after Kim Kang-san was declared foul for pulling Ahn Tae-hyun's uniform while he was attempting a bicycle kick.
Yuri Jonathan, who stepped up as the kicker, scored the first and winning goal by hitting the bottom corner of the goal accurately.
Goalkeeper Kim Dong-jun, whose five-year contract was announced by the club just before the game that day, guarded Jeju's goal without allowing a goal.