It was the final day of K League matchday one.
Two K League 1 matches took place, as well as three K League 2 games.
Pohang Steelers and Gangwon FC hosted Busan IPark and FC Seoul respectively, for their season openers. The games were full of entertainment and joy, along with fantastic goals.
Pohang Steelers v Busan IPark
‘The Battle of Pioneers’ took place at Pohang Steelyard. Steelers were founded in 1973 as ‘POSCO’ and Busan IPark were formed in 1983 as ‘Daewoo’. Both teams are the two out of five teams that participated in the first edition of Super League (now K League). It was also Busan’s first K League 1 game in five years after they won promotion in the last term.
Like another newly promoted team from yesterday, Gwangju FC, who suffered a 2-0 lost against Seongnam FC, Busan has tasted the bitterness of the first tier. The first goal was scored in 24th minute by Pohang’s Russian-German striker Stanislav Iljutcenko, with a fine header after Kim Yong-hwan’s cross from the right flank. Dostonbek Tursunov, the Uzbek defender, tried to win the duel but Iljutcenko was quicker.
Pohang’s second came from a penalty in the 70th minute, and it was the consequence of Iljutchenko-Tursunov sacrificing game again. The German striker was fouled in the penalty box, and that led to Aleksandar Palocevic’s comfortable penalty goal. Tursunov would not want to remember this match. 2-0 to Pohang was the final score.
Gangwon FC v FC Seoul
A meeting between two managers whose tactical approaches are highly valued took place at Songam Sports Town, Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. Gangwon FC is famous for their Pep Guardiola style possession-based football under Kim Byung-soo, and Choi Yong-soo’s FC Seoul are known for a defensive style of play. Their encounters have always been entertaining to watch, and today’s was no different.
Although Gangwon dominated the first half, the first goal came from Seoul with Park Dong-jin’s solo effort in the 35th minute. Park’s shot deflected off Kim Oh-gyu and went over Lee Bum-soo, the goalkeeper. But Seoul couldn’t finish the first 45 minutes with the best scenario, as Kim Nam-chun, the centre back, had to leave the field with an injury caused by Kim Young-bin’s dangerous, risky high-foot challenge.
The blow was huge for Seoul, and Gangwon was able to find more space and get out of the pressure quickly. This led to Kim Ji-hyun’s equalizer in the 51st minute. Kim, the half-time substitute, found Shin Kwang-hoon’s excellent cross from the right flank and stretched his leg to finish it. The 2019 K League Young Player of the Year showed his quality in just six minutes.
Osmar Barba completed a fantastic long-range shot, but an offside was called in the previous situation. This decision became a controversial topic after the game among FC Seoul supporters. The final pass to the Seoul player in the offside position was actually made by a Gangwon player. It was clearly a false call.
After a long, 30 minutes, Gangwon finally extended their lead in the 85th minute with a fantastic back heel from Cho Jae-wan, following Kim Seung-dae’s cross. It was indeed a goal that deserves ‘Goal of the Round’ award, even a possible candidate for ‘Goal of the Season’. It was ‘THAT’ fabulous. This goal marked the success of the K League to provide its global audience with some prime football content.
Kim Seung-dae put his name in the score-sheet only a minute after Cho’s second. His famous ‘line breaking’ attribute shined, and it was enough for Gangwon to call it a day. 3-1 was the result at full-time.
Other East Asia Notable Results
K League 2
Chungnam Asan FC 0-1 Bucheon FC 1995
FC Anyang 0-1 Ansan Greeners
Gyeongnam FC 0-0 Jeonnam Dragons
TFPL - Taiwan Football Premier League
Tatung FC 2-2 Hang Yuen
Red Lions 0-6 Ming Chuan
Taichung FUTURO 0-0 Taipower
Taiwan Steel 4-0 NTUS
