Monday 24 August 2009

Seongnam Ilhwa 1 - 2 Daejeon Citizen

by Liam Birch at Seongnam Moran Stadium

Daejeon Citizen produced an assured display to register an impressive win over multi-time K-League champions Seongnam on Sunday.

The game, played on the same day as the funeral for former president Kim Dae-Jung, had a largely subdued atmosphere, enhanced by both sets of fans agreeing to not cheer during the first half. The atmosphere seemed to translate on to the pitch, with very few notable efforts from either side. Daejeon, coming off the back of victory over Ulsan, looked comfortable with anything the Seongnam attack threw at them. Seongnam looked sloppy from open play, and rarely threatened from set pieces, particularly against a strong and confident Daejeon defence which dealt with corners and free kicks with ease.

The crowd were awoken from their slumber when on 37 minutes, Kim Han Seob was fed in by a delightful through ball and calmly side footed past the Seongnam keeper. It was no more than Daejeon deserved after a composed first 45 minutes.

As the second half began, and the noise level was raised from the fans, so too the pace of the game quickened. Daejeon again looked dangerous on the break with Seongnam seemingly happy to play the long ball game. The key moment came just before the hour mark when Daejeon won a free kick in a dangerous area. All eyes turned to the sidelines as Ko Chang-Hyeon made his long awaited return from injury. With his first touch of the game, he curled a superb free kick over the Seongnam wall and into the net for his 9th goal of the season. Citizen fans are quickly running out of superlatives to describe this man's free kicks.

Just as things looked comfortable for Citizen, true to form, they conceded just three minutes later from a looping header by Seongnam's Cho. Far from the onslaught expected however, Daejeon regained composure to see out the game and register back to back victories. Much credit must be given to manager Wang Seon Jae who has turned Daejeon from basement boys to real challengers for the playoffs.

Daejeon will look to make it three wins in three at home against Jeonbuk next Sunday.

MOM: Valber

Monday 17 August 2009

Daejeon Citizen 1 - 0 Ulsan Horang-i

by Liam Birch at Daejeon World Cup Stadium

Daejeon Citizen scored a dramatic late goal to register their first victory over Ulsan for five years on Saturday.

In a game where Daejeon created few clear cut chances, it took a moment of skill from defender Hwang Ji-Yoon from an 87th minute corner to take all three points. Ulsan, themselves having a sub-par season, will feel that they did at least enough to come away with a point from the Purple Arena, and perhaps should have, given the chances they created.

Daejeon had veteran goalkeeper Choi Eun Song to thank for a string excellent saves which highlighted that at the age of 38, he is still one of the most important players in the squad. He was first called into action midway in the first half where an Ulsan through ball left the striker in a one-on-one situation, which Choi did excellently to save with his trailing leg.

Daejeon were mostly restricted to long-range efforts, first from the returning Valber, whose grass-cutting effort was easily saved by the Ulsan keeper, a man who has a lot of previous history with the Citizen fans following his antics in the 2007 playoff game.

Woo Sung-Je, ever lively in attack almost tested the Ulsan keeper towards the end of the half. Cutting inside from the right, his attempted curler into the top right hand corner sailed just over the bar. The fact that this attempt was one of the highlights of the half is testament to the lack of chances created by either side in the first period.

The second half was more of the same, with Ulsan definitely looking the more threatening. Park Sung-Ho toiled away up front, but with just five goals to his name this season, he was never in danger of adding to that tally.

Ulsan however, looked a far more dangerous prospect with former Daejeon man Kim Young-Tae causing problems down the right. It was his cross that almost resulted in a goal. Fortunately for Daejeon, the resulting header looped over the bar.

Daejeon needed to change things around and the introduction of Racic provided just that. It was Racic that won a free kick on the edge of the area after being jumped over by the Ulsan defender. Racic picked himself up before firing a thunderous drive that deflected off the wall and out for a Daejeon corner.

From the resulting corner, Hwang Ji-Yoon put Daejeon ahead. The low corner didn't look like beating the far post until Hwang volleyed home on 87 minutes.

There was still time for Ulsan to almost equalize twice however. First, a header back across Choi's goal was excellently stopped by the keeper. As Ulsan launched a final assault, panic ensued in the area until the ball ran to the Ulsan striker who found himself through on goal. Fortunately for Citizen, Choi dived at his feet to smother the ball in injury time to ensure Daejeon picked up their fourth win of the season.

MOTM: Choi Eun-Song