Surging Seongnam Thinking Upset in Final
Chunma Seeking 8th K-League Title Against Top-Ranked Jeonbuk Motors
By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Jeonbuk Motors are gunning for their first K-League title, while seven-time champions Seongnam Chunma will be looking for a second straight playoff upset when the two sides meet in the two-leg K-League Championship Series at Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday and at Jeonju, North Jeolla Province on Sunday.
Motors, headed by Choi Kang-hee, topped the regular season for the first time since they joined the league in 1994, and have been awaiting their opponent since the final match of the regular season on Nov. 1.
The fourth-ranked Chunma are the K-League's winningest team and are seeking their eighth league title and their fifth in the last decade.
They booked their berth in the final with three playoff wins, against Incheon United, Chunnam Dragons and Pohang Steelers.
Seongnam went into the Steelyard in Pohang, Sunday, as the underdogs against the AFC Champions League winners, and came away with a hard-fought, rain-soaked 1-0 victory.
"Seongnam is a team which has potential and a great history in the championship series,'' the Motors manager said in a press conference in Seongnam, Tuesday.
"But we are challenging for the title for the first time in 15 years. Our players are very determined and well prepared, so we are confident. We will play up to our billing as the regular season champion."
Motors will be fresh, rested and healthy after enjoying a whole month off and should be able to take advantage of a shorthanded Chunma side, which will be without key players such as midfielders Kim Jung-woo and Lee Ho, striker Dzenan Radoncic of Montenegro and defender Jang Hak-young.
Kim started his military service Monday, and yellow card accumulation will prevent Radoncic and Lee from getting on the pitch in Game 1.
Jang was sent off in the semifinal match at Pohang, a penalty which will also see him banned from both finals matches.
The teams split two head-to-head matches this season. Jeonbuk defeated Seongnam 4-1 on a Choi Tae-uk hat-trick on April 4 at home, but the Chunma evened the season series with a 3-1 win on Aug. 2 at Seongnam.
In the match, Kim netted two goals, Radoncic notched the equalizer and Jang set up the winner by Kim.
While Seongnam is suffering from a depleted roster, the Motors' holiday has allowed injured midfielder Enio Oliveira Junior of Brazil time to recover, and he will join Luiz Henrique Da Silva Alves and Choi in a formidable midfield that combined to produce 22 goals and 31 assists this season.
The trio should be a threat around the Chunma net throughout the game.
The series will also feature a matchup of two marquee strikers: Motors' Lee Dong-gook and Chunma's Mauricio Molina.
Lee was released by Seongnam before the season and has rewarded Motors for picking him up, scoring 20 goals to lead the K-League. It signaled a resurrection of his career after his disastrous two-year stint with Middlesbrough in the English Premier League (EPL).
Seongnam will look to Molina to help pull off the upset.
The Colombian footballer joined the Shin Tae-yong's side in August and showed off his golden touch with 10 goals and three assists in 15 appearances.
He also fired home two goals in the postseason, including the game-winner against the Steelers.
Seongnam's difficult road to the final could mean that they are more prepared and battle tested than their opponents.
"We have reached the final after hard-fought games with Incheon, Chunnam and Pohang, so we will hope to take the last step with a win in the final, especially in front of a home crowd in the first game,'' Shin said.