A Nostalgic Korean Summer

The K-League All Stars game is a regular part of the Korean football calendar and a much-loved fixture at that. The format changes as in the past, northern teams have played southern teams, the K-League team has played J-League counterparts and two years ago, even Barcelona provided the opposition.

This time though, the team lining up against the All-Stars on July 5, made up of players who won the most votes in a nationwide poll, are special. It is the 2002 World Cup team. As this month marks the tenth anniversary of that glorious run to the semi-final, the authorities have seen fit to mark the occasion with what should be a sell-out exhibition at Seoul World Cup Stadium, where the run came to an end at the hands of Germany.

It is being organized by the star of the show Ahn Jung-hwan. The recently retired striker who headed Italy out of the competition on that unforgettable night in Daejeon, an incredible night in both football terms and what happened in the country in the following hours and days, is heading the marketing campaign. He has already been seen calling captain Hong Myong-bo who then gets hold of Guus Hiddink. Both will be present.

It remains to be seen if Park Ji-sung will make it though it doesn’t look likely and Lee Young-pyo will be busy in MLS with Vancouver Whitecaps. Most of the others will be there – Seol Ki-hyeon, Kim Nam-il and Lee Woon-jae are still active in the K-League while the likes of Ahn and Song Chung-guk have just recently retired. Hwang Sun-hong and Yoo Sang-chul, who scored in the opening round 2-0 win over Poland, are now K-League coaches with Pohang Steelers and Daejeon Citizen respectively.

It promises to be quite a night.  

FA Cup fighting

There was a good deal of hand-wringing after the fist-flinging at Seoul World Cup Stadium on June 20 in the fourth round of the FA Cup between bitter rivals FC Seoul and Suwon Bluewings. Once again, Suwon got the better of the capital club with a 2-0 win although the goals will not be remembered long. What will stick in the memory are 42 fouls, one red card (and there really should have been more with some of the wild challenges) and the mass brawl that broke out at the end of the game.

It didn’t stop there as Korean media reported that a Seoul marketing officials was hospitalized by a member of the Suwon staff. After a fifth straight defeat against Suwon, a number of Seoul fans then protested outside the stadium against their own team (sitting top of the league at this point) and lay down in front of the team bus.  

Back to the league

Jeonbuk Motors are the form team at the moment with five straight wins which contained 19 goals. Chile recruit Hugo Droguett has found his feet in the league and is starting to shine after a slow start. Lee Dong-gook is never far from the scoresheet and netted a hat-trick in a recent 5-3 win at home to Gyeongnam FC, goals 124, 125 and 126 in the K-League. Nobody has scored more.

 There are worries for Seongnam. Three straight defeats in the league and an elimination from the FA Cup, the club’s best hope of a place in the 2013 Asian Champions League (they were eliminated from the 2012 version recently) have put the pressure on Shin Tae-young. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had led the team to the 2010 Asian title, he may be in a little danger. As it is, he can stand by the sidelines looking annoyed.

There have been many changes at the club since that 2010 win and just as the team was starting to settle in the second half of 2011, there was another raft at the end of the season. Too many good players have left for the liking of fans who have demanded a meeting with the club.

Daejeon Citizen seem to going in the opposite direction. A truly dreadful start to the season in which they lost nine out of the first ten games, had everyone tipping the Purple Emperors for the drop. But three wins out of the last four – including a 3-0 victory at Seongnam – have seen Yoo Sang-cheol’s men start to pull away from the basement.

Belgian striker Kevin Oris has started to look very good and if former injury-prone national team midfielder Kim Hyeung-beom can keep fit and scoring the kind of screamer that did for Seongnam, the future may be bright.

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Euro 2012 football

Finally Some Football For South Korea

It has been a strange few weeks for Korean football and the fact that the final round of qualification for the 2014 World Cup is about to start has almost been forgotten.

National team head coach Choi Kang-hee has been one of the most successful coaches in Korea and Asia over the last few years but increasingly in recent weeks he has been looking stressed. That never happened when he was leading Jeonbuk Motors to domestic and continental titles but his position has changed. With the national team, he has even tried to smile in front of the cameras; it is all a little unnerving for fans.

The first issue was all about Park Chu-young. Even when it comes to football, the fact that Korea's star striker had played just seven minutes of Premier League action since joining Arsenal last summer, would have put his place in the squad for the friendly against Spain and the matches against Qatar and Lebanon in doubt.

But this was not just about the football. The March announcement that the player had been given the opportunity to delay his military service for 10 years due to the fact he had been granted a right of residency in Monaco (after a three year spell at the club) overshadowed pretty much everything in Korean fotoball. The nation was divided among those that were happy to see Park complete his duty in his mid-thirties and those that saw an already privileged person gaining another advantage not open to the average man on the street.

Choi was caught in the middle. Attempts to get Park to talk to the Korean media were, according to KFA officials, refused by the player. In the build-up to the announcement of the squad, there were unsuccessful attempts to contact Park and in the end, he was omitted from the squad. “The door is always open,” said Choi but something will have to happen before Park can walk through it. He has said nothing, nobody actually knows where he is and there are suspicisons that he does not really want to play for the national team.

In the absence of the Arsenal player, Choi is keeping faith with his Jeonbuk star striker from the last couple of years. Lee Dong-gook has been scoring plenty of goals in the K-League and in Asia for a while now and is likely to start against Qatar and Lebanon.

The coach has also been looking to another Jeonbuk favourite to provide the ammunition for the Lion King as well as add to the team’s firepower himself. The only problem is that the player Choi has in mind is not actually Korean.

Eninho has been adding Brazilian flair to the K-league since 2007 and came into his own after joining Jeonbuk in 2009. A creator, finisher and dead-ball specialist, he was just what Choi wanted.

"The Korean national football team manager is an imperative position," Choi said earlier in May. "It has to win by any means possible; thus, I will try my best to do everything in my power." The debate grew as the coach acknowledged. "The issue has deviated in a way I have not imagined. If I proceed with the plan for my personal gain, I should be held accountable for it."

The Korean FA took the issue to the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) in mid-May. The hope was that the body would recommend to the Ministry of Justice that Eninho should be fast-tracked into dual-nationality. In mid-May, the committee knocked back the initial request, saying that the country had ample alternatives to the Brazilian.

Choi was not impressed. "I wonder if the KOC seriously looked into his performance and sincerity. I would like to ask if they know how desperate the situation is regarding the manager asking for special naturalization for him. It may be against Korean cultural norms, but I want him."

The KFA tried again on May 19, confident that legally, there was no reason for the KOC to refuse but the outcome was the same.

"There was lot of debate and thoughtful consideration, but we didn't find significant factors to change our original result from the first review," KOC Secretary General Choi Jong-jun said after the meeting. “Special naturalization gives a person dual citizenship and waives naturalization tests, but in exchange for that, a basic understanding of Korean culture and language is essential. However, we thought he lacked effort in those parts.”

The KFA eventually admitted defeat and the issue has been put to bed - for now. There are other things to think about, not least the upcoming World Cup qualifiers in Qatar on June 8 and at home to Lebanon on June 12. All are relieved that there is finally some football to talk about.

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Korean Soccer football

When Citizens Attack: K-League Season Gathering Pace

Six down, 38 to go, the K-League season may have a long way to go but the first month has been action-packed with shocks, hooliganism, full and empty stadiums and mascots getting attacked.

That happened at Incheon United. It was only the second ever game at the brand spanking new Sungui Arena. The first match was marred by a ticketing fiasco that saw thousands of fans stuck outside in the freezing cold for hours. That problem was fixed by the time Daejeon came to town but there was worse to come.

Most agree that Incheon mascot Durumi started the trouble in the battle of the two bottom teams. The crane, according to witnesses, was making fun of the away fans after Incheon claimed a much-needed 2-1 win. For two visitors, it was all too much and they sprinted onto the pitch and knocked the bird off his little power scooter and then proceeded to knock his block off. Shocked Daejeon players and security staff eventually pulled the assailants off.

That wasn’t the end of it though. A group of Incheon fans made their way to the Daejeon supporters and another fight ensued. The scenes were not pretty and there were reports that after the fighting stopped inside the stadium, it continued outside.

The K-League swiftly and strictly clamped down. Incheon were told to play a future game in a different region, as yet unannounced, while Daejeon have to play twice behind closed doors. Thankfully, Durumi is on the mend.

Two fan-free games is the least of Daejeon’s problems. No points, one goal and six defeats from six games has the pressure on rookie coach Yoo Sang-chul. Nicknamed ‘Yubi’ by his fellow 2002 World Cup squad members for his leadership skills after a famous Chinese general, he really has his work cut out as he gets to grip with his first full season. Already fans are voicing their frustration. With relegation introduced for the first time, these are nervous times.

While it is no big surprise to see Daejeon in the nether regions, Seongnam are not much better off. The seven-time Korean champions are also gunning for a third Asian title but at the moment, neither look likely. With just one win in six games, the team is struggling. Striker Dzenan Radoncic is banging them in for new team Suwon Bluewings, helped by Cho Dong-keun. Sasa Ognenovski is injured while new midfield signing Yoo Bitgaram has yet to fit in with his new team.

Coach Shin Tae-yong rang the changes after a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Busan I’Park and while the performance was better against Pohang Steelers, the result was the same. Well, it was actually worse as the 2010 Asian Champions lost 2-0 to the 2009 winners.

More headlines have been used on Jeonbuk Motors, a team that isn’t actually doing too badly but still have yet to suggest they are accustomed to losing long-term coach Choi Kang-hee. Choi went to the national team job, leaving assistant Lee Heung-sil in charge of the champions. Lee led the team to two disastrous showings in the Asian Champions League with successive 5-1 defeats – quite a shock for fans of the 2006 champions and 2011 runners-up. They bounced back with a 2-0 win at Gyeongnam, another team that is struggling more than expected.

There are familiar names at the top though Jeju United are not usual leaders. After finishing as runners-up in 2010, last season was a real let-down for fans on the island and with the departure of striker Kim Eun-jung to Gangwon in the summer, more of the same was feared. That hasn't been the case so far. New signing Seo Dong-hyun, who moved in the opposite direction to Kim. has already got three goals including a last-minute winner against old club Suwon Bluewings. Young striker Bae Il-hwan has also impressed.

There are three teams sharing 13 points with the leaders. FC Seoul have bounced back from their defeat at rivals Suwon Bluewings. 2011 top scorer Dejan Damjanovic scored twice on Sunday in 2-0 win over Sangju Sangju to dispel fears that he may be sulking after being denied a big money move to China. Suwon’s ‘twin towers’ in attack Dzenan Radoncic and Stevica Ristic are starting to click while Ulsan have slipped a little after a very bright start but are still very much in the mix.


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Euro 2012 football

K-League Gets Temperatures Rising Already

The winter was not a fierce one by Korean standards, except for one week in early February that saw Seoul temperatures plummet to minus 20, and the 2012 K-League certainly did not take long to warm up.

The excitement and controversy were getting going even before the big kick-off. 24 hours ahead of the opening game, Daejeon Citizen were in the headlines for letting veteran, and we are talking Dino Zoff style, goalkeeper Choi Eun-sung go.

It wasn’t that fans thought the 40 year-old who had been with the club since it came into existence in 1997 and was the third-choice ‘keeper at the 2002 World Cup, deserves an automatic starting place but the manner in which the club handled it angered almost all. The 40 year-old went on a pre-season tour of Mexico but learned that he wasn’t getting a contract on the week of season start.

Citizen fans planned a silent protest. They would go down to Gyeongnam FC for the opening game of the season but would not make a sound. In the end, it wasn’t that difficult. Amid driving rain and biting winds, the fans had little to shout about anyway as they lost 3-0 to the early table toppers.

The day earlier however, there was a little English Premier League style controversy as Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma defender Sasa Ognenovski refused to shake the hand of Jeonbuk Motors’ Brazilian playmaker Eninho before the game.



The two don’t get on. Basically The South American thinks the Australian plays too rough while the feeling coming the other way is that Eninho dives. The Brazilian had the last laugh however as he scored a late winner as the champions kicked off their defence with a 3-2 win.

Lee Dong-gook got the other two and in the process the Lion King, who had scored three goals in two games for the national team in the previous seven days including the opener in a vital 2-0 World Cup qualification win over Kuwait in midweek, set a new K-League goalscoring record with an 117th strike to move ahead of Woo Sung-yong.

Also on Saturday, Ulsan Horangi snatched a hard-fought 1-0 win at Pohang Steelers courtesy of giant striker Kim Shin-wook. If the Tigers can integrate their signings of fine attacking players – Lee Keun-ho and Kim Sung-yung from Gamba Osaka and Akihiro Ienega from Real Mallorca – and keep their usual defensive solidity then they will finish higher in the league than sixth.

If the handshake affair in Jeonju reminded of the Evra-Suarez incident in the English Premier League then in Daegu there was, a more tenuous link it has to be admitted, a kind of Carlos Tevez episode. OK, FC Seoul striker and 2011 top goalscorer Dejan Damjanovic did not refuse to come off the bench but the star striker did, according to coach Choi Yong-soo, refuse to play to his best and was subbed out after 22 minutes as Seoul drew 1-1 at Daegu.

The problem is that Seoul turned down a reported $5 million bid from Guangzhou R&F for the Montenegrin international. As you would expect, there would also be money to double Damjanovic’s salary and as you would expect the player was interested.

“His condition was OK ahead of the match. However, Dejan was not the player I am familiar with at all, so I took him off. Although he has conflicting interests with the club, he promised me (to play hard), but broke his word,” Choi told reporters. “I cannot forgive this. Despite the promise to me, he betrayed my and his teammates’ trust in him. I will not field him in future games if he does not change his attitude,” he said. “If we continue to show a solid performance like today, we will be able to achieve good results in the future despite the absence of Dejan.”

Seoul’s bitter rivals Suwon Bluewings fared better with a 1-0 win over Busan I’Park – a team that had a good season last year but were unable to stop bigger clubs taking their stars. It wasn’t a great performance from either team but Suwon’s new Australian defender Eddy Bosnar impressed as did Brazilian new boy Everton Cardosa Da Silva who scored the game’s only goal.

There are hopes that Incheon United can this season shed their usual mid-table status. 2002 World Cup heroes Kim Nam-il and Seol Ki-hyeon joined in the winter as did Australian international Nathan Burns. He was injured as United, led by Korea’s 2010 World Cup coach Huh Jung-moo, crashed to a 3-1 loss at Jeju United.

There weren’t many goals elsewhere. Last year’s bottom club Gangwon FC were delighted with a goalless draw at Chunnam Dragons while Gwangju FC got off to a good start with a 1-0 win at military club Sangju Sangmu.

This will be Sangju’s last season in the top tier. In the K-League’s 30th season, it has finally adopted relegation. Two teams will go down this season and as a non-professional entity, the army boys will be one of them. That is not all. Affter 30 games this season, the 16 teams will split, Scottish style, into two groups of eight that will play each other twice for the title and for the right to finish bottom.

That is a long way off. There are still 43 games to go.


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Euro 2012 football

Korean Transfer Window Well And Truly Open

The turn of the year has seen the transfer market in the K-League gather momentum. Players and coaches have returned from their end of season vacations and teams are starting their winter training camps.

The first week of 2012 saw two big deals involving midfielders who may not be quite automatic starters for the national team but are never too far from the first eleven. That is certainly the case for Kim Jung-woo. The 29 year-old was a feature of the 2010 World Cup when the Taeguk Warriors made the second round in South Africa and has scored his sixth goal for the national team in Korea’s 6-0 win over Lebanon in qualification for the 2014 World Cup in September.

Kim has spent the last two seasons with Gwangju and then Sangju Sangmu, the league’s military team. He was one of the stars of the 2011 season, scoring 15 goals for a team that usually struggles. His return to Seongnam Ilhwa coincided with the end of his contract. Kim was perhaps the most highly sought after Korean player of the close season and was on the wishlist of a number of clubs but ended up with Jeonbuk Motors.

“I am overjoyed to join Jeonbuk, last year’s K-League winners and one of the most distinguished clubs in Asia” he said. “I will do my best to meet expectations and do my best for the image of Jeonbuk,” said the 29-year-old. “I have experience playing with (Jeonbuk’s) Lee Dong-gook and Kim Sang-sik at Seongnam. I think we will able to play well if we adjust together through communication. I have many good memories with the two at Seongnam.”

Seongnam fans will be consoled by the fact that the club has shelled out not far shy of $2 million to add Yoon Bitgaram to their squad. The midfielder is 21 and has already made 13 appearances for the national team. Glasgow Rangers had bid around $1.3 million for Yoon, who captained Korea’s team at the 2007 Under-17 World Cup and then spent a few weeks with Blackburn Rovers in England, but his club Gyeongnam preferred to sell him to Seongnam for a greater fee.

"We have signed Yoon Bitgaram to be part of our challenge to win the K-League and the 2012 AFC Champions League," Seongnam said in a statement. "Naturally, he will strengthen the team and help us increase our fan base."

Suwon Bluewings go through players at an alarming rate and have also been busy in the past weeks. The club said goodbye (again) to talismanic defender Mato Neretljak and replaced the tall Croatian with the even taller Australian in the shape of Eddy Bosnar. Bosnar has spent the last four plus seasons in Japan with JEF United and Shimizu S-Pulse.

Like Neretljak, he takes a mean free-kick but it remains to be seen if he can become as big a favourite with the fans. If he can’t be the new MAto, he’s hoping he can be the new Sasa Ognenovski who fought his way into the Australian national team after impressing in Korea for Seongnam.

"If the move goes ahead I think it gives me a good chance of getting back in the Socceroos picture," said Bosnar. "The facilities at Suwon are better than anything I have seen in Japan and it would give me a chance to play at a higher level."

Pohang Steelers have also been shopping overseas following the departure of Brazilian star Mota but have been doing business in Eastern Europe. Hwang Sun-hong led the team to second in the K-League in 2011 He has picked up former Romanian international Ianis Zicu and ex-Serbian U-21 defender Zoran Rendulic.

Zicu arrives from CSKA Sofia and has experience in Serie A with Parma while the big defender Rendulic has played in Austria and France.

“Zicu doesn’t just have UEFA Champions League and Romanian national team experience, we expect him to become an important part of our attack,” Hwang said. “Rendulic isn’t just a great defender, he can prove useful in attack too.”

“I wanted a new challenge so I decided to come to Pohang,” said Zicu. “I know that Pohang are Asia’s most prestigious team and I want to help the club challenge in the AFC Champions League again.”

2010 champions FC Seoul have been fairly quiet so far but it likely to change over the coming weeks while Ulsan Horangi, who made the final of the championship play-offs are also in the market for new players after losing out jeonbuk in the race for Kim.


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Euro 2012 football

Jeonbuk Motors Win Deserved Title

It didn’t come as a surprise. Jeonbuk Motors led the K-league from early in the season and were the best team for most of it. Choi Kang-hee’s men should have won the Asian title too but had to make do with the domestic title to add to the 2009 crown.

The inevitable came to pass on December 4 in the second leg of the Championship play-off final against Ulsan Horangi. Jeonbuk won the away leg 2-1 and then, despite falling a goal behind at home, recovered to take the return match by the same scoreline in front of a big crowd, which took the league past the three million mark for the season.



Even stony-faced Choi Kang-hee managed a smile during the celebrations after which he told reporters that he felt now that Jeonbuk had become a big club. He is right. Until their 2006 Asian title, the Jeonju outfit had never been a serious contender but is now one of the best in Korea and the continent at large.

Striker Lee Dong-guk didn’t get on the score sheet and even missed a penalty (Ulsan conceded five in five play-off matches but only two were scored) but had already done enough to be overwhelmingly voted in as the 2011 K-League MVP almost exactly 48 hours after lifting the trophy.

Jeonbuk are not a team full of internationals, Korean squads come and go with barely a name in it from the champions, but coach Choi knows all about winning in the K-League. He rarely smiles but he often wins. Well-organised, tough but with players who can really play, the champions have been formidable.

Ulsan finished sixth in the regular standings after a fairly mediocre campaign. The team saved their best for the play-offs, deservedly beating FC Seoul in the opening game and then squeezing past Suwon Bluewings and Pohang Steelers to get the shot at Jeonbuk and the title.

Pohang finished second in the league but didn’t get too much reward for a solid first season under Hwang Sun-hong. The team was never really in danger of losing second spot but, for a thrilling 3-2 win over Jeonbuk aside, rarely threatened to occupy the summit.

Big boys FC Seoul and Suwon both had disappointing starts to the season. Seoul lost coach Hwangbo Kwan and while caretaker Choi Yong-soo stepped in to steady the ship, he struggled to produce the goods in the games when it mattered. Montenegrin marksman Dejan Damjanovic had another season to remember however, scoring 22 goals, an impressive tally and six more than the next in the charts – Lee Dong-guk.

Suwon’s season took a turn for the better with the summer signing of Stevica Ristic. The muscular Macedonian scored for fun and sent the Bluewings soaring into the play-offs. He never appeared in the loss against Ulsan however as he had to serve a six-game suspension handed out by the AFC. His part in the mass brawl against Al Sadd in the semi-final of the 2011 Asian Champions League was worst than most but the punishment seemed excessive.

It was an unlucky season for Suwon. A controversial goal knocked the team out of the Asian Champions League, the same happened in the final of the FA Cup and they were eliminated from the play-offs after a penalty shootout.



The surprise package of the season were Busan I’Park. Ahn Ik-soo was in his first season as coach and after an indifferent start led the team into fifth helped by talented attackers such as Park Hee-do and Yang Dong-hyun. Park has already left for Seoul and the problem for Busan over the coming months is going to be keeping hold of their best players when the bigger boys come calling.

Seongnam Ilhwa started the season as Asian champs and ended it by winning the FA Cup to book a place in the 2012 version. Not much in between was good as the team without sold stars such as Mauricio Molina and Jung Sung-ryong struggled but coach Shin Tae-yong is hopeful of a return to form both at home and overseas for Korea’s most successful team.

Gyeongnam FC almost made the play-offs but failed at the end. Their season was disrupted by the sale of star striker Lucio to Ulsan in the summer and the sale of star midfielder Yoon Bitgaram to Seongnam as soon as the season ended, despite interest from Glasgow Rangers suggests that the future may not be so bright.

Chunnam Dragons also just missed out and the day after it all finished, coach Jung Hae-sung handed in his notice but was persuaded to stay on by the club. Also in Jeolla Province, Gwangju FC had a reasonable first season and finished in 11th with Lee Sung-ki impressing in midfield, so much so that he was named Rookie of the Year. Last season’s runners-up Jeju United ended in ninth after a disappointing season.

Then there are the strugglers. Daegu FC, Daejeon Citizen and Sangju Sangmu spent the season in the lower reaches of the standings along usual mid-table team Incheon United. . Gangwon FC failed to score for the first four matches, setting the scene for a pretty dire season.

The season was dominated however not by Jeonbuk or anyone else for that matter but match-fixing. Rumours have abounded for some time but the scale of the practice surprised everyone with around 60 players, some still playing others not, prosecuted and all banned from football from various numbers of years and sometimes life.



It was all a bit depressing but some good could come out of it if the K-league sticks to its guns and launches a more professional version of Asia’s oldest professional league. Relegation is coming in 2012 for the first time though it has yet to be confirmed just how many teams will drop through the trapdoor.

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Al Sadd Defy Odds To Take Asian Crown

“I think I am not in the best condition to analyse it. At this moment, my feeling is stronger than my reason.”

Those were the words of Jorge Fossati, the coach of newly-crowned Asian Champions Al Sadd, deep in the bowels of Jeonju World Cup Stadium on Saturday evening. The Uruguayan had just watched a fantastic final in which his team overcame favourites and host Jeonbuk Motors thanks to a penalty shootout.

120 minutes ended 2-2 in a game that the Koreans had the chances to win but the Qataris held out and took the shootout 4-2 thanks to two saves from man of the match Mohamed Saqr.

“I am happy for everyone but especially for Saqr,” said Fossati. “When I came back to the club in January, many people told me that he couldn’t play anymore and that he was too old. Today, he was fantastic but that was not the only game in this competition in which he was fantastic. Jeonbuk players did not miss the penalties, he saved them. In the game also, he made two or three very important saves. One in the last minute was extraordinary.”

Al Sadd weren’t even supposed to be in the competition at all and were only placed in the qualifying round to replace a Vietnamese team that had failed to submit the correct documentation. Fossati steered the team to the knockout stage where they managed to make the last four despite losing both legs of the quarter-final to Sepahan. The Iranians had fielded an ineligible player and were punished accordingly.



Onwards went the men from Doha to a tricky semi-final against two-time continental champs Suwon Bluewings. In Korea in the first leg, Al Sadd were surprisingly leading 1-0 when Senegalese striker Mamadou Niang scored his second of the evening. It almost caused a riot. Suwon had allowed the ball to go out of play to give injured players time for treatment and expected to get it ball.

Kader Keita didn’t see it that way. Suwon had attacked for a while before the ball was out for a throw-in and the Ivory Coast international decided that cancelled any rights to sportsmanship and with the entire Suwon team in the Qatari half, he passed the ball forward for an unmarked and almost unseen Niang to score.

A huge fight followed. Fans were on the pitch, noses were broken, kicks came flying in and coaching staff got involved. Eventually the dust settled and although Al Sadd lost the second leg 1-0 in one of the most defensive home displays you will see, the team booked their place in the final.

Jeonbuk should have won. The 2006 champions took an 18th minute lead with an Eninho free-kick but soon after Sim Woo-yeon headed into his own net from a Keita cross. The African produced a moment of real quality on the hour to volley home past Kim Min-sik to put the Qataris ahead.

Jeonbuk had already had chances and put on tournament top scorer Lee Dong-gook who had been struggling to recover from a thigh injury. Eventually the pressure paid off and Lee Hyun-sung headed home a last-minute equaliser.



As the game went into extra-time, again, all expected Jeonbuk to triumph. Al Sadd looked tired and had taken off their two most creative players, Keita and Ibrahim Khalfan. The Koreans had their tails up and 41,805 fans were in full voice. But three times the home team hit the woodwork and just as in normal time, when they were on target, Saqr was on hand to palm the ball away. Whatever Jeonbuk did, they could just not get the all important goal.

“Tonight's defeat came from so many chances from which we failed to score,” said coach Choi Kang-hee. “Conceding the first goal was decisive. Some of our players got too excited during the game...I told the players we would have chances to score in extra-time but we were not able to take them. It is very frustrating to lose in this way but the players did all they could."

They did but it was just not to be and even before the shootout, there was a sense that Sadd would finish triumphant. That was before Kim Dong-chan and Lee Hyun-sung saw Saqr save their spot kicks. In between, Al Sadd’s Korean defender Lee Jung-soo hit the bar to give fans some hope but his team-mates soon extinguished that faint flame to signal the start of a parth thousands of miles to the west.


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Lion King Still Reigns In Korea

It is true to say that in football, the strikers are the ones who get the goals and get the headlines. Goalkeepers can play fantastically well for a full 89 minutes out of a fantastic match but one mistake and all know what the internet and newspapers will focus on.

Lee Dong-guk is one of the biggest stars in the league. It seems that he has been around for ever but he is still scoring goals and lots of them.

As well as 14 in the regular season so far, the Lion King, so named after his hairstyle at the 1998 World Cup when he burst onto the scene, has been on fire in the Asian Champions League. With the continental competition at the last four stage, Lee is now the leading goalscorer in the tournament with eight goals so far to his name.

Incredibly, six of those goals came in two games against Japanese team Cerezo Osaka. Both teams met in the group stage with both games ending 1-0 to the home side. The quarter-final was a completely different story with goals galore. The first leg in Japan ended 4-3 to Cerezo with Lee scoring twice.

The second leg was expected to be similarly close if not with as many goals. Last Tuesday evening at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, the opposite proved to be the case as there were goals galore as Jeonbuk won 6-1 with Lee getting four.

“It is the first time for me to score four goals in an official match,” said Lee. “We really want to win the Asian title but we also have to focus on the K-League.” it was one of the best nights of the player’s career.

It has been a long career and in European eyes, he will always be remembered for a season and a half in the English Premier League with Middlesbrough FC. It wasn’t a happy time for the player. He arrived at the club in January 2007 and within minutes of appearing in the red shirt for the first time, he had a great opportunity to score only to fire a shot against the post. A few centimetres to the left and perhaps things would have turned out differently.

As it was, while he managed to score in cup competitions, Lee never did it where it really matter – in the most popular league in the world. When his name is mentioned these days by the international media, words such as ‘Middlesbrough flop’ or ‘Premier League failure’ are often not far away. He returned to Korea in 2008 and after a brief and unsuccessful spell at Seongnam, he has settle well in Jeonju.

Not as fast, mobile or strong as he used to be due to injuries, especially a serious knee injury that ruled him out of the 2006 World Cup when he was the national team’s star striker and at the peak of his powers, Lee is still able to find the net when it matters. Eight goals so far in the Asian Champions League, he is on course to win the competition’s golden boot. His goals have helped Jeonbuk to the top of the K-League table.

Inevitably a return to the national team is now being discussed. Lee made the 2010 World Cup squad but never made the pitch. New coach Cho Kwang-rae tends to like younger players but has not ruled a Lee return out.

He hasn’t been summoned in the roster for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against UAE next Tuesday in Seoul and it is unlikely that he will be but if he continues to score the goals that give Jeonbuk a second K-League title and a second Asian Champions League win, then the Lion King’s career could have one final twist in the tail.


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