In the 10th round, 2nd place Pohang (19 points) and 10th place Incheon (9 points) meet. This season is a special year for both teams. This is because Pohang celebrated its 50th anniversary and Incheon celebrated its 20th anniversary. Therefore, ahead of the opening of the season, Pohang promised to win, and Incheon raised expectations with a massive reinforcement as they entered the first AFC Champions League. However, about two months after the opening, the atmosphere of the two teams is quite different.
First of all, the atmosphere of the home team Pohang is the best. Pohang is the only undefeated team among 12 K-League 1 teams, recording 5 wins and 4 draws after the opening, and won 1-0 in the previous 9th round against Suwon. Pohang’s strength this season is the even performance of all players. Led by captain Kim Seung-dae, the young gun Ko Young-joon-Lee Ho-jae duo, the new midfield combination Kim Jong-woo-Oberdan, and transfer students Baek Seong-dong, Jeka, and Kim In-seong, who are perfectly integrated into the team, are showing decent performance. Goalkeeper Hwang In-jae, Ha Chang-rae, Park Seung-wook, and Sim Sang-min, who conceded only 8 goals in 9 games, also have a strong defensive line, showing no leaks on both offense and defense.
On the other hand, away team Incheon is off to a shaky start. Contrary to what was highly anticipated at the beginning of the season, they only won 2 wins in 9 games, and lost 0-1 in the previous 9th round against Ulsan. Currently, Incheon is in 4th place with 9 points and 15 goals, and is in need of a breakthrough in both offense and defense, ranking 4th with the lowest score and 2nd with the most.
However, in the 8th round, ‘Returned Youth’ Cheon Seong-hoon scored his K-League debut goal and multiple goals, emerging as a new hope for Incheon’s attack. In addition, Shin Jin-ho and Delbridge, who took a break in the 9th round held during the week, also promise to do well in the Pohang game. In particular, in this game, Shin Jin-ho seems to have enough motivation as he faces Pohang, his former team, where he served as captain until last year.
The match between Pohang and Incheon, which is about to face off for the first time this season, will be held on the 30th (Sun) at 3pm at Pohang Steel Yard.
Last season, Gangwon advanced to Final A for the first time in three years and ranked 6th, the best tie ever, but showed a sluggish performance at the beginning of this season. Up until the 8th round, they recorded 4 draws and 4 losses, hovering in the lower ranks, and Kim Dae-won and Yang Hyun-joon, who were Gangwon’s best hit products last season, have yet to taste goals. Gangwon, in desperate need of a rebound, brought Seoul home in the ninth round and won their first win of the season after a lot of hard work. In today’s game, Gangwon caught up with the game they had won 2-0 by 2-2, but just before the end of the game, Lee Woong-hee scored the winning goal and made a miraculous victory. 스포츠토토
11th place Gangwon (7 points), who widened the gap with the lowest place Suwon (2 points) to 5 points with their first win of the season, will try to win a streak this weekend. Gangwon’s opponent in the 10th round is 9th place Jeonbuk (10 points), and currently the difference between the two teams is only 3 points, so if Gangwon wins this confrontation, both teams’ points will be tied. Therefore, Gangwon wants to continue the atmosphere that has been raised with the first win of the season to Jeonbuk. Jeonbuk lost 1-2 against Daejeon in the 9th round during the week and could not laugh, and Jeonbuk coach Kim Sang-sik, who was suspended for 2 games, cannot sit on the bench until this game.
On the other hand, both teams had 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss last season, giving Jeonbuk a slight advantage. The first match of this season between Gangwon and Jeonbuk will be held on the 29th (Sat) at 4:30 pm at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium.