Chunnam ready for clash vs. Seongnam

With the benefit of hindsight it was written in the stars that FC Seoul`s season would end last Saturday. Now the team that had real title aspirations has to watch on Wednesday night as conquerors Chunnam Dragons travel to Seongnam Chunma in the next round of the K-league`s championship playoffs.

Seoul thought it shouldn`t have needed to play the match at all. The capital club spent the whole season slugging it out with Jeonbuk Motors at the top of the K-League and expected to go straight to the final, or at least, the semifinal.

That all changed on the last day of the season as Seoul conceded a last-minute goal at home to Chunnam Dragons. That 1-1 tie saw Seoul slip to third. That finish meant Seoul had to negotiate the entire playoff series.

As luck would have it, the first playoff opponent was Chunnam. And Chunnam was the last. For Seoul, it is very much a case of what might have been. For much of the season, the red-and-blacks looked the likeliest champion but when push came to shove, the team didn`t quite have the indefinable quality that champions need - the ability to dig in and fight for everything.



The game again finished 1-1 after 90 minutes. Seoul`s penalty area was the least-crowded place in the whole city after 12 minutes and Chunnam striker Lee Gyu-ro took advantage to fire a fierce shot low into the home net. Three minutes later however, Seoul drew level. A delightfully measured slide-rule pass from Ki Sung-yong gave Jung Jo-gook an easy chance from close range.

The excitement didn`t last and the game drifted towards penalties. Two Seoul players missed the target completely - Kim Sung-yung and, dismally, Lee Jong-min. Ki Sung-yong saw his kick well-saved. It was the last action for Ki in the Seoul shirt. He has already signed for Scottish giants Celtic in a $4 million deal and heads to Glasgow at the end of the year.

Kwak Tae-whi scored the winning penalty. The international defender has spent much of the season battling injury but was fresh as a daisy as he shot home emphatically against his old club.

Chunnam`s opponents will be Seongnam who also won courtesy of penalties.

The soccer on display just to the south of Seoul was nothing to write home about but there were a number of talking points on a dramatic afternoon.

Seongnam had two men, central defenders Sasa Ognenovski and Cho Byung-kuk, dismissed by the referee Koh Kum-buk (a referee infamous for his penchant for the colors yellow and red) but still managed to take the lead in extra time thanks to the head of former Incheon striker Dzenan Radoncic. That goal came after 100 minutes of play and United`s equalizer came 13 minutes later thanks to a fine low shot from Kim Min-su.

The game also proceeded to a penalty shootout. Substitute goalkeeper Kim Yong-dae, introduced into the match with just seconds remaining, saved two Incheon spot kicks and then scored one of his own to book the Chunnam date. While Seongnam is, on paper, stronger than the Jeolla Province club, the Dragons won`t be too upset at having to face their yellow counterparts. Neither Ognenovski or Cho will be able to play on Wednesday and Seongnam will be tired from two hours of tough action against a team with more men on the field.

Honors are even between the two this season. Seongnam won at home 2-0 in May but crashed to a 3-1 defeat down in Gwangyang.

(johnduerden@hotmail.com)



By John Duerden/Contributing writer