First Impressions - Daegu FC Vs. Pohang Steelers

Following what was surely a record-breaking opening week having being the only top football league underway at the time, the K. League 1 theater is set to prepare for their second week showing with the premier of another set of intriguing fixtures.

Ok, last week’s season opener between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors & Suwon Samsung Bluewings may not be the most entertaining match you will ever see, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect the standard of the league itself. Especially when it’s the opening week, so it’s going to take some time for everyone to get into full gear.

Now we go on to the next match between the two teams that I have not watched before in action, so it’s rather fitting to bring ‘First Impressions’ back for this. Ladies and gentleman, now premiering in the second week of the K. League, it’s Daegu FC Vs. Pohang Steelers!

Before we go into the match, the preview. Daegu FC came into the season losing top goalkeeper, South Korea’s first-choice Jo Hyeon-woo, but they did cushion the blow with a few signings, namely prolific striker, Dejan Damjanovic on a free transfer no less. However, the Montenegro striker started on the bench and came on with around 30 minutes to go. But he and his teammates just couldn’t get the goal needed in a 0-0 draw against last season’s relegation contender, Incheon United, a result that showed they are no pushovers this time around. Daegu’s pre-season preparations were in chaos, especially when their previous head coach Andre, who lead them to a great 5th place finish just one point behind third placed FC Seoul last year, left after unsuccessful contract renewal negotiations. So it will be intriguing to see if this will hamper their season or whether caretaker head coach, Lee Byung-geun can exceed expectations within the coming weeks.

As for Pohang, they got off to a good start as they reminded newly-promoted Busan IPark what is life like in K. League 1 with a 2-0 victory thanks to a leaping header by Russian attacker, Stanislav Iljutcenko and a penalty from Serbian midfielder Aleksandar Palocevic, both of whom are in their second season with the club. Pohang almost made it to this year’s AFC Champions League after replacing their previous manager, Choi Soon-ho following a poor start with Kim Ki-dong. He was placed under a caretaker role before being given the job permanently after overseeing a turn of fortunes. If you think Daegu was close, Pohang was even closer to that final Champions League spot saw them narrowly miss out on third due to goals scored (Reminder, the K. League priotizes goals scored first for tiebreakers). Considering what went down last year, perhaps it is not too farfetched that Pohang are considered dark horses for the title as Kim Ki-dong is looking to continue the good work.

If you want to compare what kind of match this is from a Malaysian standpoint, think Terengganu Vs. Kedah. A team on paper that has great foreign and local talent lead by a head coach in their first big role, taking on a team that is one of the most domestically successful teams in history who themselves have a great squad lead by, in K. League United’s words when they previewed Pohang, “a promising young manager who has shown that he is more than capable of building a team that can play attractive football”. (Writer’s note: Malaysian football fans are free to offer their input on this comparison). With that being said, let the match begin!

Daegu FC

Just one change for Daegu from that goalless draw at Incheon. Japanese midfielder Tsubasa Nishi, who actually came back from a long injury layoff since last year, replaces Kim Seon-min, the same player he came on for after coming off the bench last week. Though Damjanovic remains on the bench.

Daegu had a couple of decent shouts. Though not enough of the ball is fed to striker, Edgar. So you can imagine his relief when powerfully headed in the equalizer. He could’ve been the match winner has his low curler not hit the post late on.

Best player of the day for Daegu in my opinion is Kim Dae-won. Assisted Edgar’s goal with an excellent cross and found himself in a number of good positions down on the wings. Been hardworking down the flanks and always looking to get the ball moving.

Daegu looked good going forward. The only thing that they haven’t done so in that aspect is the final product. Maybe that’s part of why they had trouble getting that goal at Incheon last week.

Best Player: Kim Dae-won

Pohang Steelers

Two changes for the away side from their 2-0 win over Busan. Australian, Brandon O’Neil & Sim Dong-woon replacing Lee Seung-mo & Manuel Palacios, both of whom were on the bench.

The commentator mentioned that right-back, Kim Yong-hwan was the best player for Pohang last week. He didn’t exactly stand out here today.

The double midfield pivot of Brandon O’Neill & Choi Young-jun have done a good job in guarding the middle of the pitch for Pohang. Part of this is the reason why Daegu has been attacking down the flanks. O’Neill in particularly looked great in his debut for Pohang, being the destroyer to cut out any attacks Daegu is looking to make down the middle.

I feel I can see a glimpses of Song Min-kyu’s ability, especially with the execution of his assist for Aleksandar Palocevic’s goal just before half-time. But he was subbed off for Manuel Palacios on the hour mark before he can do anything else. Could you imagine though if he had done better on his 14th minute volley attempt?

Speaking of Palacios, the winger impressed me with his cameo. The commentator wasn’t kidding when he said Palacios is the fastest player in the league. One moment struck me was when he got ahead of Daegu captain Hong Jeong-woon to win the ball with his pace after a knock on, that forced the defender to foul him on the left side. Makes me wonder what could’ve been had he started.

Best Player: Brandon O’Neill

Overall:

Plenty of end-to-end action between the sides. But I feel the draw is a fair a result for both sides. Other than the result, plenty of positives for both sides to take. Just need to work on that cutting edge more. Though the urgency grew more as the match reaches full-time.

For Daegu, Cesinha, who is touted to be Daegu’s creative force, looked labored today, which could likely be because of Pohang’s double pivot. But they have Kim Dae-won to look for inspiration this time around and he duly delivered when they need it the most, especially when most of Daegu’s attacks came from his side.

I can see the good work made by head coach Kim Ki-dong. Pohang were more incisive than their opponents. It looks as though they have found a midfield duo they can count upon in Choi Young-jun & O’Neill. Basically for Pohang, just continue what they did and they will be Ok.

Huge thanks to Paul Neat, Muyeol Jung, Peter Hampshire and K. League United for providing the into on the K. League United website and the actual K. League website.

General Football Stuff, International FootballAzri FirmanMay 16, 2020K-League