Just A Few Things - Suwon Samsung Bluewings Vs. Ulsan Hyundai

Credit: K-League

Are You Not Entertained?!

With a lot of focus on Germany’s Bundesliga, the K. League marches on to their second week with Suwon taking on Ulsan being the match to watch. And goodness, it by far did not disappoint at all. This match saw a five-goal thriller in favor of Ulsan Hyundai, and it is a comeback no less.

There was some back-and-forth action between the two sides when the home side broke the deadlock astonishingly just before half-time. Suwon then doubled their lead through Sulejman Krpic’s header and things should’ve gone smooth sailing for the home side.However, since then, Ulsan dominated most of the second half and they were able to punish Suwon for taking their foot off the gas as a late winner condemned the home side to another successive defeat.

Junior’s Joy

He was mostly kept quiet by the Suwon defence, but after 53 minutes, Junior Negrao showed his class by breaking through the defence with the ball on the right.  Able to create some space, his low shot was just saved by Suwon keeper, No Dong-geon, only for the ball to bounce into the far post.

The Brazilian has always been a threat as he showed last week with a brace against Sangju Sangmu. The threat even came from set-pieces it seems. Because on 88 minutes, the Brazilian seared a low free-kick where a small swerve completely fooled Dong-geon, in which resulted the keeper unable to adjust in time and the ball goes in for the match winner.While he may not be as that threatening today, you can expect Junior to conjure up something to get the goals he and the Horangi want as he leads the goal charts with four goals.

Concentrate!

Before a crazy second half, the match needed something to bring it to life more. And just before half-time, Suwon’s Ko Seung-beom duly delivered it just before half-time. With no Ulsan player applying the necessary pressure, Seung-beom just walked into position with the ball, went for it and got what he wanted. His shot beautifully seared into the top corner, leaving Ulsan keeper Jo Hyeon-woo no chance to save it. It was a sensational strike and perhaps gave Ulsan a lesson to close down someone quick if their opponents have too much space to work with.

But then, Suwon themselves was at the wrong end of a defensive lapse in the second half. The ball falls to Ulsan right-back, Kim Tae-hwan and swung in a cross towards the far post. The defence, focusing on the cross, did not catch the run of an incoming Kim In-sung. The left-winger was able to pounce from behind to win the cross and bundle the ball from close range to tie up the game, leaving the Suwon defence questioning how was In-Sung able to get in and score.

Not Exactly On-Taggart

There was one change in the Suwon line-up that caught everyone’s attention. Australian hitman Adam Taggart was dropped in favor of Bosnian striker Sulejman Krpic. The change worked to some degree as Krpic got Suwon’s second goal. But other than that, Bosnian was, sadly, largely anonymous. There’s just not enough service to get to the forward.

This was the same problem Taggart faced last week against Jeonbuk, so it was kind of baffling he was dropped. One has to wonder what was Lee Lim-Saeng’s reasoning behind the change. Eventually, Taggart did come on and the match could’ve seen a different result had the Australian not see his one-on-one effort saved by Jo Hyeon-woo quite late in the match.

Pressure Piles On

The pressure coming off from this match is felt in more ways than one. Yes, it’s only the second week in, but the top two is played out exactly like expected. Ulsan is touted to be the team to challenge the defending champs, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Thanks to this win, Ulsan is able to keep up with the Warriors, who themselves needed a late winner by debutant, South African striker Lars Veldwijk, to beat Busan IPark 2-1 away. Both are occupying those top two spots and now remain the only teams who have a 100% record so far. But remember, anything can happen

As for Suwon, more questions have to be asked now about Lee Lim-Saeng and how he is leading the team. Benching their top scorer from last season is already eye-opening, it seems from what I understand, Lim-Saeng also placed a number of players out of position and then losing after being in the lead just topped off a bad day in the office. It’s gonna be a long season for Suwon and if this keeps up, who knows how long Lim-Saeng is going to last?