Just A Report: Ulsan Hyundai Vs. Perak

Credit- AFC Champions League

It was always going to be a daunting task, but the huge gap in quality is shown between these two sides after South Korean side Ulsan Hyundai showed their class to stomp Perak 5-1 at the Ulsan Munsu Stadium, ending their dreams of a history making moment.

Perak had to play without Brendan Gan who got injured during training while Ulsan named a strong starting line-up. Ulsan proved to be a giant too big for Perak to vanquish. Nevertheless, it was great experience for the Malaysia Cup champions to face a team like Ulsan in the AFC Champions League.

Perak though did well to hold out their own in the early parts of the match as both sides adopted a rather conservative approach with Perak unsurprisingly keeping their defensive shape while Ulsan wasn’t in a hurry to get something, though Ulsan had a feeling their patience would pay off in the end. And ultimately, it did after 22 minutes.

A brilliant exchange of passes between Kim Bo-Kyung & Kim Tae-Hwan on the right side sees the latter free and running to the near post. Tae-Hwan’s pass across goal went past Perak keeper, Hafizul Hakim and it was accidentally bundled in by right-back Amirul Azhan to break the deadlock.

As a result, the game opened up a little and Ulsan could’ve had two when Kim In-Sung, who was brought on for the injured Hwang Il-Su after just seven minutes, had the easiest of tap-ins, only for the referee to rule out the goal when the ball went out of play before Junior Negrao played a back header for In-Sung.

However, Perak could’ve equalized on the 38th minute. Firdaus Saiyadi reacted quickly to collect a loose pass and found the time to tee up Gilmar who is free. But the slightest of pressure by an Ulsan defender did enough to put off the Brazilian and skewer his shot horribly over.

Perak ended the half with a bright display while Ulsan showed signs of slight discomfort. However, Perak failed to replicate that energy in the second half and it was only a matter of time Ulsan got their groove back. It was then that USA international, Mix Diskerud provided two quickfire moments of brilliance to put the result beyond Perak’s reach.

Firstly on 56th minute, Manchester City loanee Diskerud weaved his way into the box past at least two defenders before firing a low shot past Hafizul. It only took two minutes for Diskerud to get his second. Kim In-Sung sidefooted the ball towards Diskerud, who has the space to unleash a curler out of Hafizul’s reach to make it 3-0.

It got better for the home side on 70 minutes. Amirul Azhan’s clearance of a cross fell to Lee Dong-Gyeong, who replaced Diskerud on the hour mark, and his first-time half-volley is enough to beat Hafizul for a fourth.

Perak however should’ve pulled one back in two successive moments. Out of nothing, Gilmar let go a rocket from a tight angle on the right that forced a good save from Ulsan keeper Oh Seung-Hoo. Then from the resulting corner, Zac Anderson thought his header was going in, only for the ball to whizz inches past the top far post.

Immediately afterwards, Ulsan struck their fifth when In-Sung played a through pass for Negrao, who brilliantly finished his shot to cap off a resounding night on 86th minutes.

But then, Perak scored a surprising consolation in spectacular fashion just before stoppage time. Nazirul Naim collected a pass down on the left and with everyone expecting a cross, Nazirul piledrived a low shot/cross inside the keeper’s near post that hit the inside of the far post and into the net that fooled Seung-Hoo, much to the visiting fans delight.

Ulsan Hyundai:

21 Oh Seung-Hoon

8 Hwang Il-Su (7 Kim In-Sung, ‘7)

9 Junior Negrao

10 Sin Jin-Ho (22 Jeong Dong-Ho, ’90+1)

14 Kim Bo-Kyung

19 Park Yong-Woo

20 Yun Young-Sun

23 Kim Tae-Hwan

33 Park Joo-Ho ©

38 Dave Bulthuis

42 Mix Diskerud (15 Lee Dong-Gyeong, ’66)

Subs

1 Jo Su-Huk

4 Kang Min-Soo

6 Jeong Jae-Yong

29 Kim Su-An

Perak:

22 Hafizul Hakim

3 Shahrul Saad

6 Zac Anderson

8 Leandro Dos Santos

9 Gilmar

10 Wander Luiz

12 Kenny Pallraj (16 J. Partiban, ’73)

14 Firdaus Saiyadi (7 Khairil Anuar, ‘90+1)

19 Nor Hakim Hassan

21 Nazirul Naim

23 Amirul Azhan

Subs:

18 Khairul Amri Salehuddin

2 Syazwan Zaipol

15 Idris Ahmad

20 Rafiuddin Rodin

26 Hamizul Izaidi

Yellow Cards: Zac Anderson (‘40)