Pohang Steelers, FC Seoul Lose Away Legs
By Matt Flemming
Staff Reporter
Pohang Steelers and FC Seoul both lost in the first legs of the Asian Football Conference Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, leaving both teams in difficult positions returning home to Korea for the second legs next Wednesday.
Pohang took a 1-0 lead early in the first half but Uzbek squad FC Bunyodkor evened the match by halftime and scored twice late to grab a 3-1 victory in Tashkent. FC Seoul, meanwhile, gave up a 2-0 halftime lead en route to a 3-2 loss to Umm-Salal in Qatar.
Pohang came out aggressively to start the match and No Byung-jun put the Steelers on the board with a goal in the eighth minute. But the Uzbek club responded in the 30th when Victor Karpenko's header tied it at JAR Stadium.
Steelers defender Kim Hyung-il was sent off in the 67th minute after his second yellow card, putting Pohang down to 10 men. Bunyodkor responded, as reigning player of the year Server Djeparov made Pohang pay with goals in the 79th and 86th minutes.
Steelers manager Sergio Farias's side played well early but Bunyodkor took control after pulling even and dominated after Kim was sent off.
"We scored first and created a lot, although we made a mistake for Bunyodkor's first goal," Farias said, according to the Asian Football Conference website. "But in Pohang we will write another story."
Bunyodkor coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was very pleased with his team's performance.
"It was a very important game to win. There were moments in the match when they the better side and sometimes when Bunyodkor were the better side. We both played beautiful football," said Scolari.
"Pohang played well for the first 15 minutes and scored a good goal but after that, we showed our character. We then scored and showed our game and dominated. Pohang still had chances but we were able score. The second-half was the same, we scored and Pohang could only try."
Scolari's team goes into the Steel Yard next Wednesday with the advantage of a two-goal victory but Scolari is predicting a more difficult match.
"We now hope that we will go through but the result is not 3-1, the result will not be decided until the last minute in Pohang. I said before the game we would change our history but this is only the first game - it will change after the second game. It will be a different game in Pohang and we need to score in Korea."
In Doha, two goals by Jung Jo-gook in the first half were wasted, as Umm-Salal's Magno Alves scored in the 55th and Fabio Cesar Montesin scored in the 84th to draw even, and then Alves scored the winner a minute later, handing a devastating loss to FC Seoul.
"It was a great match but we should have won because we had 2-0 lead," said FC Seoul manager Senol Gunes.
"I knew they play pretty much with the same bunch they usually do. They play in a tough league so we knew it would be a tough match. Now we have a tough match back home."
FC Seoul hosts Umm-Salal next Wednesday at Seoul World Cup Stadium.