MERS fear overshadows K-League games
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FC Seoul’s Park Chu-young celebrates after scoring a goal against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Saturday. / Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
Fears over Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) hit the K-League Classic last weekend, with a drop in attendance of almost 40 percent in the six stadiums that hosted the round 15 games.
In Saturday’s showdown between two veteran strikers, FC Seoul's Park Chu-young and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors' Lee Dong-gook each scored a goal apiece, but it was Park’s team that emerged victorious as the league leaders fell 1-2 at their home ground ― their third consecutive game without a win.
Park scored the game's opener in the 44th minute as his left-footed strike deflected past Jeonbuk goalkeeper Hong Jung-nam.
It was Park's third goal of the season and a signal that his form has returned somewhat after a long period of decline. The striker experienced his worst ever season last year and was criticized heavily for his dismal performance at the 2014 World Cup. His international achievements, such as making it into the final 16 at the World Cup in 2010 and clinching an Olympic bronze for the first time for Korea in 2012 seemed a distant dream.
With his return to the K-League in March, questions lingered over whether he could still be competitive, but three months later he is now leading Seoul's seven-game undefeated streak, putting the club back in the race for the title.
Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee brought Lee on during half-time, but Seoul's Kim Chi-woo netted in the seventh minute of the second half with a right-footed shot to make it 0-2.
Lee scored with a precise strike from the center of the penalty box in the 72nd minute, and his side continued to battle hard to find an equalizer, but ultimately to no avail.
Jeonbuk still maintains its eight-point gap at the top of the K-League Classic over second-placed Suwon Samsung Bluewings. In Saturday's other game, the Greens abandoned their trademark attacking formation and started with three center backs, which duly resulted in them having no shots in the first half.
“I wanted to test the three at the back formation before June,” Choi said. “Though we were defeated at home, we are still leading the league and there are always challenges.”
Suwon also suffered a 0-1 loss on Sunday, allowing 10-man Gwangju FC their first victory over Suwon in the club's five-year history.
In the 70th minute, Gwangju defender Jeong Jun-yeon was sent off after being shown a second yellow card, but his team was still able to take the lead after Suwon defender Yang Sang-min's own goal and managed to hold on.
With the victory, Gwangju extended its winning streak to three games, jumping to 4th place in the table, just behind third-placed Pohang Steelers by one point and second-placed Suwon by two points.
In other games played Sunday, Pohang clinched a 2-0 win over Seongnam FC in Tancheon, and Ulsan Hyundai FC overcame Jeju United 2-0 in Ulsan. A day earlier, Jeonnam Dragons beat Incheon United 2-1 in Incheon, while Daejeon Citizen and Busan IPark settled for a goalless draw in Daejeon.
The crowd attendances over the past weekend showed a significant decrease ― an obvious response to the MERS crisis that is shaking the country this month.
A total of 32,098 people visited six stadiums for the fixtures. This represented an average of 5,350 per stadium, down 39.7 percent from the average of 8,872 up to the 14th round.
In the highly anticipated clash between Jeonbuk and Seoul, 13,286 people attended, but the number was some 5,000 smaller than Jeonbuk's average home game attendance of 18,541. The game between Daejeon and Busan saw only 1,092 supporters.