Four teams are left now in the race for the 2004 K-League championship, and not one of them is Seongnam Anyway, Pohang won the first stage of the league and Suwon just won the second stage, and they are joined by Ulsan (best overall record) and Chunnam (3rd best overall record, behind Suwon who already qualified). The playoffs are: Sunday 5th December Pohang v Ulsan Suwon v Chunnam The winners of both ties progress to the two-legged final. Wednesday 8th December Pohang/Ulsan v Suwon/Chunnam Sunday 12th December Suwon/Chunnam v Pohang/Ulsan ----------------------- Pohang - First Stage Champions Suwon - Second Stage Champions
1. Pohang Steelers Established: 1973 Honorable Merits: - 1974 / 1986 /1996 FA Cup Champions - 1982 / 1988 K-League Champions - 1997 / 1998 Asian Champions League Champions .................11. Carlos ................................22.*Woo Seong-yong............ 9. Conan ................10.Tavarez............6.*Kim Ki-dong........8.Hwang Jin-seong 14. Kim Seong-guen......5.*Lee Min-seong......4.Santos............12.*Kang Yong .......................................1.*Kim Byeong-ji.......................................... 2. Suwon Samsung Bluewings Established: 1995 Honorable Merits: - 2002 FA Cup Champions - 1996 / 1998 K-League Champions - 2001 / 2002 Asian Champions League Champions .......................12.*Nadson...........................9. Marcel........................... ......................................14*Kim Du-hyeon........................................... 11.*Kim Dae-ui............................................................14*Seo Jung-won .......................................7*Kim Jin-woo.............................................. 29. Gwak Hee-ju.......18*Park Gun-ha........2. Musa............20*Choi Sung-yong .......................................1*Lee Woon-jae...........................................
3. Ulsan Hyundai Established: 1983 Honorable Merits: - 1986K-League Champions .......................11*Choi Seong-guk.............10. Carlos........................... 17. Jeon Jae-woon....7*Kim Jeong-woo......9. Souza.............8*Jeong Gyeong-ho 13*Hyeon Hyeong-min...5. Yoo Gyeong-ryeol...4*Jo Se-kwon....2*Park Jin-sup ........................................1*Seo Dong-myeong................................... 4. Jeonnam Dragons CFC Established: 1994 Honorable Merits: - 1997FA Cup Champions ....................11. Modda.........................18. Itamar............................... 13. Kim Jeong-gyeom...........22. No Byeong-jun................9*Shin Byeong-ho ...........................6. Viera......................19. Nam Ki-il............................ 7*Kim Tae-young.........3. Yoo Sang-soo............24. Choi Geo-rok............... .....................................24*Kim Yeong-gwang...................................... * - National Experience
To be frank, I'm questioning Nam-il's ability to quickly adjust onto the team's formation. He is a great player without a doubt but what is there that he can do when Jeonnam's DCM Nam Ki-il is doing his job ? A Sub at best but not an incredible factor that will turn the outcome of the game. <--- my two cents.
Pohang will be bringing out Hong Myung-bo and Lee Dong-guk at half-time for a special event designed to fire up the crowd at their game. Chunnam are hoping to take five busloads of fans up to the Suwon game, which is a reasonably impressive away support given that you could usually fit all visiting fans to the Big Bird in Lee Hyo-ri's hotpants. Come on Suwon
5 Busloads ??! That's insane ! I doubt if even Jeonnam has 5 bus load full of supporters all together !
Yeah. It means we have the best league par excellence in Asia. Seongnam and Chunbok advanced to the semifinals in the AFC Champions League. But we have 11 clubs that can beat these two ACL semi-finalists in K-League.
In a European league folk would say that perhaps their continental run detracted from their league form (getting to the UEFA Cup final in 2003 probably cost Celtic the Scottish league title, and they ended up with nothing from that season)... but the Asian Champions League isn't really all that prominent a competition for it to have had that big an effect on the teams. Anyway Seongnam were crap ever since the start of the year Cheonbuk's domestic demise is rather baffling - they had built up a five point lead over Chunnam from the first stage, but ended up five points behind them in the overall rankings. Hopefully Chunnam's domestic demise starts to set in at 3pm on Sunday afternoon
Chunnam have 138 fans registered on their buses already for the trip up to Suwon... exciting stuff, eh?
Pity that KBS aren't showing this match for some crap wrestling match. I don't have SBS Sports. Ah, i'll be the lonesome dove again, absorbing some last minutes of Korean footie before I go back to the United States.
When you walk through the storm, hold your head up high, And don't be afraid of the dark At the end of the storm is a golden sky, And the sweet silver song of a lark. Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain, Though your dreams be tossed and blown, Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart And you'll never walk alone, You'll never walk alone. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart And you'll never walk alone, You'll never walk alone.
Well the first part of my football weekend went off well with Aberdeen beating Kilmarnock 3-2 to keep on the tails of Rangers and Celtic ( ), so now it's Suwon's turn to do the business and reach the Championship final.
PICTURES FIRST - The fellow from the 2nd floor throwing confetti. - Fans with their blue balloons " Dong Bang Shin Gee " fans, maybe ? Or were they yellow balloons...
Players entering Musa's first and Suwon's game winning goal. * sorry about the quality of the pictures. I forgot to set it on higher resolution. Well Holyjoe should be rollin by here anytime soon with a load of pictures anyway
Forever Pohang man, Mr. Hong Forever Pohang man #2, Mr. Lee - he should out of military duties by next march