Ulsan Confirms 'Early Win' Of 2-0 Win Over Daegu In Round 35
"Success in Military Art"… Replacement players Kim Min-hyuk and Jang Si-young scored side by side
Suwon leads Daejeon 2-0 in 'relegation crisis' worst draw
Professional football Ulsan Hyundai became the K League 1 champion for the second consecutive year for the first time since its foundation, holding its fourth "winning star" in mind.
Ulsan won 2-0 in the 35th round home game between Daegu FC and Hana One Q K League 1 2023 Final A at Ulsan Munsu Stadium on the 29th, combining Kim Min-hyuk's header winning goal in the 23rd minute of the second half and Jang Si-young's wedge goal in the 44th minute of the second half.
As a result, Ulsan, which accumulated 70 points with 21 wins, 7 draws and 7 losses, widened the gap with the second-place Pohang Steelers (60 points) to 10 and confirmed its K League 1 victory in the 2023 season regardless of the results of the remaining three games.
Pohang, which drew 1-1 with fourth-place Jeonbuk Hyundai (53 points) the previous day, and put the brakes on its pursuit of the lead, cannot follow Ulsan even if it wins all three remaining games.
Ulsan, which reached the top of the K League in 1996 and 2005, succeeded in "returning to the champion" for the first time in 17 years last year and again confirmed the top spot this year, winning its fourth career championship (1996-2005, 2022, 2023).
In particular, head coach Hong Myung-bo will be named as the sixth head coach to lead Ulsan's "second consecutive K-League victory" by leading Ulsan's "two consecutive years.
In the 40-year history of professional football, only six coaches have achieved more than two consecutive K-League wins, including coach Kim Ho (1998·1999, then Suwon Samsung), late coach Park Jong-hwan (1993, 1994, 1995), late coach Cha Kyung-bok (2001, 2002, 2003, then Seongnam Ilhwa), Choi Kang-hee (2014, 2015, 2017·2018), Jose Morais (2019, 2020, then Jeonbuk Hyundai), and Hong Myung-bo (2022, 2023, Ulsan).
In addition, Ulsan had 18,933 spectators visiting the stadium on the same day, achieving 300,000 home spectators in a single season.
Ulsan struggled to break through the thick defensive wall of Daegu, which had fallen deep since the beginning of the first half, but failed to find a way out for the attack, as it rarely created shooting opportunities.
Rather, in the 8th minute of the first half, he allowed a right-footed shot by allowing a fatal breakthrough to Daegu's Ko Jae-hyun, who was on the counterattack, but he barely overcame the risk of losing a point due to Cho Hyun-woo's super save and finished the first half without scoring.
In the second half, Ulsan's unilateral offensive and Daegu's "reverse attack after defense" continued.
Ulsan lost a golden scoring opportunity in the 19th minute of the second half when Ataru changed his direction from the right side of the goal area to his right foot after Eom Won-sang dug into the right corner of the penalty area.
Coach Hong Myung-bo took out Kim Sung-joon and put in Kim Min-hyuk in the 19th minute of the second half, and the replacement became a "God's move."
In the 23rd minute of the second half, Ataru's cross from the left side rose up from the right side of the goal area and shook Daegu's net with a header.
It was Kim Min-hyuk's "winning goal" four minutes after he went on the ground.
Replacements were also responsible for Ulsan's additional goals.
Ulsan replaced Joo Min-kyu and Jang Si-young in the 39th minute of the second half, and Jang Si-young scored a wedge goal in the 44th minute of the second half when Joo Min-kyu put a long ball into the back space of the defense near the center line.
Suwon Samsung, the "old famous family" on the verge of relegation, led 2-0 against Daejeon Hana Citizen at its home Suwon World Cup Stadium before being hit by two goals with about 10 minutes left in the game and had a shocking draw.
Suwon seemed to succeed in the "last place" by leading with goals by Kim Joo-chan in the 20th minute and Acosti in the 29th minute, but disappointed more than 10,000 fans who visited the stadium at the end of the game due to a combination play between Daejeon Masa and Thiago.
In the 35th minute of the second half, Thiago finished Kang Yoon-sung's cutback with a right-footed nonstop shot to score the first goal of Daejeon.
Thiago, who scored his 16th goal of the season, beat Joo Min-kyu (15 goals, Ulsan) to become the lone top scorer.
In the 49th minute of the second half, Martha connected the Thiago header pass with a shot from the gate to make it 2-2.
Suwon, which only garnered 1 point, remained at the bottom (26 points). The gap with Gangwon FC (27 points), which drew 1-1 with Jeju United the previous day, remained at 1 point.
At the Seoul World Cup Stadium, the home team FC Seoul came from behind to beat Suwon FC 4-3 after a hard hit. 스포츠토토
Suwon FC took the lead with Lopez's first goal in the 29th minute of the first half, but Seoul turned the tables 3-2 thanks to the performances of Ki Sung-yueng (11 minutes), Willian (14 minutes), and Bjorn Johnson (28 goals) in the second half.
On top of that, Lopez's penalty goal in the 46th minute of the second half seemed to end in a draw.
However, just a minute later, Seoul's Kim Kyung-min scored the winning goal to heat up the Sangambeol.