AFC Champions League Final Al Ittihad (KSA) 1 - 3 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (KOR) Dispite the unqualified Iranian referee, Seongnam has just defeated Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia 3-1 at away match in Jeddah. The Champions League trophy is near at Seongnam's hand. Lee Seong-nam (aka Denis Laktionov) scored a tremendous goal with a long-distance dribble at the 27th minute. Seongnam conceded an equalizer by a header from a corner-kick just one minute later. In the second half, however, Kim Do-hoon and Jang Hak-young scored one goal each, leading a 3-1 victory. The second leg will be held in Seongnam on December 1.
! ************ YEAH! I hope Seongnam destroys Ittihad in the return leg. Bring back the Asian championship back to where it belongs!!
That was a belter of a goal by Laktionov... of course, he learned everything from his time at Suwon So despite being crap in the K-League Seongnam have won the Samsung Hauzen Cup, A3 Champions Cup and look set to add the Asian Champions League to that too in 2004. Not a bad return I guess...
Why Unqualified Iranian ref? Also, I don't really care about CHampions League, it's all fixed anyways. Good luck to Korea team but I have a feeling Al-Ittihad is actually gonna come back with a surprise next game.
I don't know whether other Iranian referees are good or not. But this Iranian guy, Masoud Moradi, was one of the worst refs I've ever seen. He was an extra player for Al Ittihad. You should have watched that game to see how your fellow countryman was unfair on the pitch. Could you tell me why you don't care about AFC Champions League? Is it because all of Iranian clubs didn't make it to the quarter-finals? By the way, I don't think Al Ittihad can come back from two-goal deficit. Even if Al Ittihad defeats Seongnam 2-0 in the next game, they can't win the title because Seongnam already scored three goals at away match. Are the Saudis accustomed to playing in the cold weather below freezing? I don't think so.
Well to be honest, Al Ittihad was the better team by a great margin. If Crap Cha Gyeong-bok resorts to his defensive tactics again, we might actually be in for a great surprise.
You can't be the better team when losing by 3 goals. I didn't see the game, but it sounds as though it was a tactical victory.
Well Seongnam's three goals were due to apparent apathy and bitter carelessness and fatigue of transitioning from offense of defense from Al Ittihad. Al Ittihad dominated the game and the better chances to score ( unlucky for them that they didnt ). Instead of saying that Seongnam played a great game, I'd like to say Al Ittihad played a poor game. Seongnam was a mediocre team, at best, this season, and their level of play, was dissapointing against Al Ittihad. Al Ittihad proved their wrath against Jeonbuk ( a team that I can safely say, is a better team than Seongnam ), eliminating them in Jeonju by scoring two goals in the second half, one of them being an overtime goal, and placed themselves in their rightfully earned spot against Seongnam. Bottom line is that you don't have to be the better team to win by three goals. We'll see what happens Seongnam Multi-complex this second leg to see once and for all who the better side is.
The "unqualified Iranian referee" was the AFC referee of the year in 2003 and is again nominated for the 2004 AFC referee of the year.
Is that why most of Iranians hate the AFC? I know they don't trust the AFC at all. Maybe they think the AFC is an abbreviation for 'Arab Football Association'.
Na, I can't.. working until 8pm. Though I work near Jamshil and it's only around 20 minutes to Moran from there.. technically I could nip down and catch the extra time and penalties
I think (but not 100% sure) that was the Ilhwa Chunma team's heaviest defeat ever, in all their various guises. Oooops.
is this freakin for real?? WTF 5:0 at home?!! after having a 3:1 aggregate lead i was sure that seongnam will win the afc title.......damn, 5:0?! wtf happened?? coach put up a 2nd team or something?? or they just got owned??