Champion Jeonbuk defeat Seoul in K-League opener

Jeonbuk Hyundai forward Kim Shin-wook celebrates after scoring a goal in a K-League opener against the FC Seoul at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Saturday. Jeonbuk won 1-0. / Yonhap

By John Duerden

The opening game of the 2016 K-League season had plenty of good and bad aspects. The Saturday game was a traditional curtain raiser that pits the champion against the FA Cup holder. Jeonbuk Motors hosted FC Seoul and won 1-0.

The on-field action was nothing to write home about, but off the field more than 32,000 fans set a Jeolla club record for a league game at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium.

It was just a shame that they did not have anything to get excited about except the second-half winning goal from new signing Kim Shin-wook.

FC Seoul had played just twice this season in the Asian Champions League and had scored 10 goals against decent opposition. Brazilian hitman Adriano had scored a magnificent seven of those and his partnership with returning hero Dejan Damjanovic had Seoul fans and Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee worried.

They were so worried, in fact, that the champion ― the one Korean team that had been spending money in the off season to strengthen and deepen its roster ― decided to play it safe. There were some disappointing negative tactics from Jeonbuk, with the Greens more concerned about stopping Seoul than playing themselves.

Attendances for the K-League Classic are usually nothing to get excited about, but when there is a bumper crowd, a positive response would be for the teams to be aggressive and try to entertain the fans.

In football, you never know what kind of game you will get when two big teams meet, but when the best team in the country takes the field with a negative approach, it is certainly disappointing.

To his credit, coach Choi admitted as much on TV at half-time and promised that he would change his strategy to encourage the 32,000 people braving the cold snap.

In truth, there was not much to get excited about in the second half either, apart from a first K-League classic goal for Kim Shin-wook, signed from Ulsan earlier in the winter.

The big target-man is not always as dominant as he should be in the air, but just after an hour, he headed home the only goal of the game to send most fans home happy.

How many will be back is another question.

“The first half did not go do well for us,” said coach Choi. “At half-time, I made some attacking substitutions and it was better. We wanted an extra goal to seal the win but could not get it. However, we made no mistakes at the back, so I am satisfied.”

Jeonbuk and Seoul have Asian Champions League games in midweek as do Suwon Bluewings and Pohang Steelers.

For those looking for excitement, the place to be was Pohang, where the Steelers hosted Gwangju FC. It was 1-0 to the visitors with 10 minutes to go and it looked as if it was all over near the end when the Jeolla club added a second.

But with three minutes of normal time remaining, Pohang pulled one back and seconds later leveled. Deep into added time, captain Hwang Ji-su got what all thought was a dramatic winner to seal the most exciting of wins.

However, it did not happen because in the very last seconds ― in the 98th minute ― Gwangju was awarded a penalty that gave it a deserved 3-3 tie.

In the opening day’s other game, last season’s second-placed team Suwon Bluewings lost 2-0 just down the road at Seongnam.

It could be a long hard season for the Gyeonggi giant.