The first "Kim Ki-dong Derby" of this season will be held in the K League 1 of professional football.
Seoul will have a home game against Pohang at 2 p.m. on Tuesday at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in the seventh round of the Hana Bank K League 1. Seoul coach Kim Ki-dong will face his former team Pohang for the first time on the day.
Having led Pohang since 2019, Kim took the helm of the team in Seoul in December last year. He made dazzling achievements in Pohang by winning the runner-up prize in the AFC Champions League in 2021 and the FA Cup in 2023 (Korea Football Association Cup).
He is also leading the upward trend in Seoul. He has been undefeated in five recent matches (two wins, three draws and one loss and nine points (multi-score eight), the same number of points as fifth-place Gangwon (11 multi-score), but is ranking sixth in overall score.
The secret to their unbeaten five consecutive games is solid defense. In this season's six games, Seoul has allowed four goals, the smallest number of goals lost in Pohang and the K League 1. Notably, they have steadily accumulated points by giving up just two goals in the recent five games, in which they recorded no loss in consecutive games.
On the other hand, Seoul had left homework, including poor scoring capacity of 0.6 goals per game, except for the match against Gimcheon in the fifth round, in which Seoul scored five goals in one game. In the previous sixth round against Daegu, Seoul also failed to score a goal 0-0.
In order for Seoul's offense to revive, two players need to score points: Ilyushchenko and Cho Young-wook. Ilyushchenko scored three goals and two assists in all games this season, of which two goals and two assists came in one game against Gimcheon in the previous fifth round. If Ilyushchenko continues to play evenly in the future, he can help Seoul's offense.
Cho had one goal and one assist this season, and although he had no goal in the previous sixth round match against Daegu, he threatened his opponent's goal several times by posting the most shots (4) and two shots on target in his team. If he adds detailed goal-scoring power to his team, Cho can give wings to Seoul's offense.
Pohang, which will face off against Seoul, has taken a steeper upturn. Since Kim Ki-dong left, the team has been leading the league with 13 points under the new coach Park Tae-ha.
Park, who played as Pohang's "one club man" as a player, is making his debut season as the head coach of the K-League. In March, Park won the flex K-League Coach of the Month award with three wins and one loss in four matches.
Coincidentally, Coach Park also led the team as a Seoul coach in 2012. It remains to be seen who will laugh among the two new coaches who will meet their former teams side by side.
Ulsan HD, which seeks to regain No. 1 ranking, will meet Gangwon, which is trailing only by two points. The two teams will have a showdown at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The home team, Ulsan, broke the winless streak for three consecutive games with a 3-0 victory over Suwon FC in the sixth round. It is currently in third place with three wins, two draws and one loss with 11 points.
Lee Dong-kyung is at the center of Ulsan, which is currently the top scorer with 12 goals in the K-League 1. Lee has displayed robust offense by scoring five goals and two assists in all of the matches through the sixth round. Thanks to this, Lee was named the player of the month candidate in March.
In addition to Lee Dong-kyung, Ulsan has a total of six players (Kim Ji-hyun, Rubixson, Martin Adam, Ataru, Jang Si-young and Joo Min-kyu) who scored. This is the largest number among all K-League 1 teams. In other words, Ulsan has strength in its capacity to score runs no matter which player plays.
In addition, for Ulsan, Cho Hyun-woo recorded a clean sheet in five games in the previous round. Hwang Seok-ho, a defender who joined this season, also impressed with his stable defense.
Gangwon, an away team, has recorded consecutive wins with 3-0 wins against Daegu in the fifth round and 3-2 wins against Jeonbuk in the sixth round. It has been undefeated in the recent four consecutive games (two wins and two draws), ranking fifth with nine points. Compared to the last season when the team even had a playoff, the team shows a remarkable change.
Lee Sang-hun has led the team's advance in this season. Having scored multiple goals in consecutive rounds in the fifth and sixth rounds, when the team won consecutive games, Lee has seven goals this season, ranking first in the K-League 1.
Lee Sang-heon is from Ulsan Youth and has a deep relationship with Ulsan as he made his professional debut in Ulsan. Expectations are high whether he will be able to score against his former team Ulsan in this round.
In addition, Hwang is also notable for his performance in all games he has played this season. In line with manager Yoon Jeong-hwan's flexible tactics, Hwang is showing sharp movements in various positions including fullback, center midfielder and side midfielder.
Ulsan is overwhelmingly strong with 26 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses between the two teams. Attention is focusing on whether Ulsan will prevail in this game or whether Gangwon, which is on the rise, can make a turnaround.
Also worth watching is Song Joo-hoon's performance in Jeju. He is leading Jeju's iron-fisted defense this season. 토토사이트
Currently, Jeju ranks fourth (10 points) by banking on its solid defense by ranking third in the minimum number of goals lost (six goals) in the league. This is a remarkable change from last season when it allowed about 1.3 goals per game, ranking fourth in the number of goals lost (49 goals) per game.
Adding strength to Jeju's solid defense is center back Song Joo-hoon. After joining Jeju in 2021, Song joined Gimcheon without playing a game due to an injury, but returned to Jeju in 2023 and played in 13 games. This season, he started all games from the opening game and became the main defender of Kim Hak-beom.
Song has strength in securing the right to supply by making the most of his 190-centimeter-tall stature and ability to pressure rival players. He has been on the top of various defense indicators this season, ranking second (35 times), third (51 times) in the air ball competition, and fourth (14 times) in the block competition among all K-League 1 players.
Thanks to Song's performance, Jeju had 2-0 win against Jeonbuk in the fifth round and 1-0 win against Incheon in the sixth round, marking its first consecutive win of this season. It is also notable that he has given up no points in two consecutive games. Song was named the best 11 players in the fifth round.
