A little bit of Korean footie related news: First, congratulations to Pohang Steelers who defeated Al-Ittihad 2-1 in Tokyo to win the Asian Champions League. The win cements Pohang as the most successful team in Asian Champions League History. On a more depressing note, Suwon Samsung Bluewings won the FA Cup on Sunday after a penalty shootout win over Seongnam Ilhwa. Shame, but at least it will probably mean that coach Cha will stick around and see them to another league finish below Daejeon
Hows Ki sung yong doing this season, coming to celtic on january, anyone on here no more about him, on skysports talent thing they describe him as a wonderkid. Seen highlights on youtube and he looks differant class.
Playoff First Round Results: FC Seoul 1 - 1 Chunnam Dragons (Chunnam win on penalties) Seongnam Ilhwa 1 - 1 Incheon Utd (Seongnam win on penalties) Chunnam and Seongnam will now play on Wednesday to decide who will play Pohang Steelers in the semi-finals.
Playoff Second Round Result (Wed): Seongnam Ilhwa 1 - 0 Chunnam Dragons Playoff Semi-Final Result (Sat): Pohang Steelers 0 - 1 Seongnam Ilhwa So, we are down to the final where, over two legs, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Seongnam Ilhwa will battle it out for the 2009 K-League title.
K-League Final First Leg: Seongnam Ilhwa 0 - 0 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Lee Dong-Guk had a goal ruled out and hit the woodwork in a goalless draw that puts Jeonbuk in the driving seat going into the second leg.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors new Korean Champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 2 - 1 Seongnam Ilhwa Congratulations to Jeonbuk who win their first ever K-League title. They have been the most consistent team all year and deserve it. Former Middlesboro man Lee Dong-Guk also finishes the year as top-scorer to cap off an excellent season for the men from Jeolla province.
Bottom club Daegu FC are looking for a new manager after the current one was arrested by police in a bribe scandal. He has admitted to taking $18,000 from various South American players wages in a secret agreement with a crooked agent. He denies the more serious charge of accepting $100,000 from said agent. Daejeon parted company with legendary manager Kim Ho in the summer in a similar scandal.
The season starts again at the end of February I believe. Good job, it's absolutely freezing now. That said, I'm missing my weekend footie fix. Roll on February!
Time for a bit of a news roundup: Senol Gunes, coach of FC Seoul last season has left the club. As too has Pohang coach Farias who has accepted a big money move to Saudi Arabia. The Asian champions have also lost their two best players, Denilson and Stebbo who have moved to Scolari's Bunyodkor in Uzbekistan. They have signed Fulham midfielder Seol Ki-Hyeon on a one year deal however. Good news for the Korean K-League too in that it has placed 31st in the IFFHS ranking of professional worldwide leagues. That is up from 85th last year. The South Korean national team continued their warm up for the World Cup recently with a 2-0 win over Finland. And, last but not least, the first round of fixtures have been announced for the 2010 K-League. Jeonbuk v Suwon Incheon v Chunnam Ulsan v Gyeongnam Busan v Jeju Daegu v Gwangju Seongnam v Gangwon Daejeon v FC Seoul The season starts on February 27th. Bring it on!
Were rumours that our old player, and part time Aussie interntaional Nick Carle at Palace was mulling over a lucrative offer froman unkown Asian team the other day. Wonder of he may pull up in the K-League. Stay away Ulsan, stay well away.
Some more transfer news: FC Seoul have signed Portugese midfielder Ricardo Estaves. The bloke has some Serie A experience so should be a decent signing. Ulsan have signed two Colombians and one Paraguayan (sp?) in an attempt to get back on track after last year's disappointment. Carmelo Valencia and Esteban Velez are the Colombians but no word on the other bloke. Pohang have made a very interesting signing in Alexandro Da Silva Batista who scored 21 goals for América in the Brazilian 2nd Division last season. And last but not least, Jeju have added Brazilian forward Santos from Cascavel to their squad for next year. Daejeon Citizen have of course signed nobody...
Great result for the Korean national team last night: Japan 1 - 3 South Korea My claim that they are the best Asian team at the moment is looking pretty solid.
Got to say that Lee Chung Yong is our best find in a good long while. Certainly a surprise how well he has adapted given what a big difference in the style on the pitch and the culture off it. Still drives a Kia as well
Haha that's Koreans for you! Ultra-nationalistic to the core. By the way, how do I change the name of this thread to 2010 ?
