K League Classic Round Up (Round 4 & 5)

Midweek and weekend games are covered here. The league continues to yo-yo a bit with teams moving up and down the table.

Round 4 Results

Gyeongnam FC 1 – 0 Incheon United
Jeonnam Dragons 1 – 0 Ulsan Hyundai
Jeonbuk Motors 1 – 3 Pohang Steelers
FC Seoul 2 – 0 Jeju United
Seongnam FC 2 – 0 Suwon Samsung
Busan IPark 1 – 1 Sangju Sangmu

Mini-summary

The midweek games offered a couple surprises. 1) Pohang stomped on Jeonbuk in Jeonju. 2) Seongnam got their first win of the season over rivals Suwon. 3) Jeonnam pulled a mini-upset of former leaders Ulsan. FC Seoul also collected their first league (and goals) of the year as they beat Jeju United 2-0. Gyeongnam put Incheon at the bottom of the table with a narrow 1-0 win in Changwon. Sangju Sangmu had their 4th draw in a row after they drew 1-1 with Busan at the Asiad.

Round 5 Results

Ulsan Hyundai 2 – 1 FC Seoul
Pohang Steelers 4 – 2 Sangju Sangmu
Jeonbuk Hyundai 1 – 0 Seongnam FC
Incheon United 0 – 0 Jeonnam Dragons
Jeju United 1 – 1 Gyeongnam FC
Suwon Samsung 1 – 0 Busan IPark

Mini-Recaps

Ulsan 2 Seoul 1
Ulsan took the early lead through Kim Shin-Wook although the “Wookie” may have been a hair’s length offside. A defensive mix-up between the Seoul defense and captain Kim Jin-Kyu caused the problem. The line pushed out, but Kim was deeper and kept everyone onside. Kim Yong-Tae passed the ball back into the box after it was initially cleared, Kim Chi-Gon squared it, and Kim Shin-Wook finished it. Osmar had the ball in the back of the net for Seoul, but he was correctly ruled to have been offside and it was chalked off. When Seoul did get the ball in the net again, it stood but was the result of some good fortune rather than brilliant skill. Another set piece, this time the ball found the back of Kim Ju-Young’s head and ended up in the far corner of the goal. Seoul looked to take the lead in the second half, but Yoon Il-Rok could only volley wide after a cross from Cha Du-Ri. Ulsan re-took the lead, once again through Kim Shin-Wook. A cross from the right came in, and Kim stroked home. Kim Yong-Dae was unable to get down in time and the ball squirmed in under his arm.

Pohang 4 Sangju 2
Go Mu-Yeol got Pohang their first goal as his header just got across the line before Kim Min-Sik pushed it out. Pohang’s second came with a bit of fortune as Lee Myeong-Joo broke on the counter, passed to Go Mu-Yeol, and Go’s cut back (intended for either Lee or Kim Seung-Dae) hit Sangju defender Choi Chul-Soon and slid into the net. Kim Min-Sik will probably feel he could have done better as the deflection came from some way out. A nice freekick routine got Sangju one back just before the half. Seo Sang-Min (right footer) acted like he would take the kick, but left it for Yang Joon-Ah (left footer). Pohang keeper Shin Hwa-Yong bought the fake and took a step to his right leaving the left side of the goal wide open for Yang to curl it into. Sangju almost equalized minutes later, but Jang Hyuk-Jin’s shot was wide. Sangju pushed for the leveller, and it finally came in the 67′. Lee Keun-Ho’s cross found Lee Sang-Ho, and he powered one past the keeper. It looked like another draw was in the cards for Sangju, but almost straight away Kim Seung-Dae scored, first beating the offside trap and then the keeper. Moon Chang-Jin almost scored from a freekick, but was denied by the bar. Lee Keun-Ho almost scored an equalizer, but his shot was blocked on the line by Kim Won-Il. Son Joon-Ho wrapped up the points for Pohang in the final minute of stoppage time, sliding in a low shot in off the post.

Jeonbuk 1 Seongnam 0
A hard fought game, whose first chance fell to Seongnam’s Valdiva. Valdiva burst through the Jeonbuk defense and shot, but it was blocked. Jeonbuk’s Han Kyo-Won later got a glancing header on target after a little dinked pass from Lee Dong-Gook, but Park Joon-Hyuk got down well to save. In the 66′ minute, Seongnam captain Park Jin-Po received his second yellow card for a grab on Leonardo. A bit harsh, but not surprising. Kaio had a chance to take the lead, but his deflected shot was saved. The goal finally did come for Jeonbuk, with Lee Dong-Gook smashing in after a scramble in front of the box. Leonardo swung in the cross, and Seongnam couldn’t clear it properly. Kaio scored later, but was adjudged to have been offside. Down to 10 men, Seongnam was unable to mount any sort of pressure on Jeonbuk’s goal and the team in green held on for a 1-0 win.

Jeju 1 Gyeongnam 1
Apologies to any Jeju or Gyeongnam fans. The match was not broadcasted on TV, so no highlights are available (nor did I see it live). Song Jin-Hyung scored the opening goal for Jeju. Milo Stojanovic the tying goal for Gyeongnam.

Incheon 0 Jeonnam 0
Incheon almost got on the board early, with Lee Seok-Hyun hitting the post in the 8′. Stevica Ristic had a good chance in the second half. Stevo found himself unmarked at the far post, but his header lacked power and was straight at Kwon Jung-Hyuk. Substitute Ivo finally drew a save from Kim Byung-Ji in the 71′ when he got past his marker and fired. This game appeared to be a pretty stale affair, and neither team really created many good chances.

Suwon 1 Busan 0
Busan got off the first chance. Nilson Junior shot from outside the box, but it was straight at Jung Sung-Ryong. Seo Jung-Jin got off an acrobatic scissor kick, but it was blocked by Nilson Junior. Lee Won-Young scored a header from a freekick, but he was ruled to have been offside. Replays show that while some Busan players were offside, Lee was level with his marker. Admittedly it’s difficult to tell. Yang Dong-Hyun attempted an audacious effort from just inside the Suwon half, but it was far too low and Jung Sung-Ryong collected easily. Han Ji-Ho had a penalty call turned down when he was bundled down in the box. Busan had a second goal disallowed for offside with this one being quite clearly the correct decision. Kim Eun-Sun missed a one-on-one chance later on with Lee Bum-Young saving well. Suwon finally got the winner in the 87′. Jung Tae-Se’s initial header was saved by Lee Bum-Young, but Jung scored the rebound. Busan had one final chance, but Hong Dong-Hyun put his shot just wide when he was clean through.

The Table – After Round 5
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There are more K League Classic matches this weekend. Plus midweek AFC Champions League matches.

AFC CL Matchday 4
Shandong Luneng – Pohang Steelers
FC Seoul – Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Jeonbuk Motors – Guangzhou Evergrande
Guizhou Renhe – Ulsan Hyundai

Want to Watch?

I’m not positive on this (as I’ve never used it), but I believe (Jinseok can you confirm this?) that it’s possible to live-stream K League matches on the SPOTV Youtube channel. Just search for SPOTV on Youtube, and the first row of videos are their live videos (they will be marked live). I know that they live stream KBO games that are accessible in the US, but I’ve never checked for K League games.