Seongnam, Jeonbuk lead early K-League rounds

Marvin Ogunjimi of Suwon FC passes the ball against Gwangju FC at Suwon Sports Complex in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. Suwon FC won 2-1. / Yonhap

By John Duerden

Nothing particularly exciting or surprising happened for South Korean football during a week of international games. A 1-0 win over Lebanon in Ansan was followed by a 1-0 win over Thailand in Bangkok. Now attention turns back to the K-League season which was just getting started when it was temporarily put on ice.

After three games, Seongnam FC may have moved to the top of the standings on Saturday thanks to a 1-0 win over the Pohang Steelers at the Tancheon Stadium thanks to a third goal from Brazilian star striker Tiago Alves, but coach Kim Hak-beom knows that it is far too early to be getting excited about anything.

“It is good to start the season well,” said the experienced tactician. “But we are just looking at the next game and focusing on that.”

This was standard football talk then and just below Seongnam in the standings are some standard football names when it comes to winning titles and trophies. Jeonbuk Motors is looking for a third successive league championship and has the same seven points from the first three as Seongnam.

The latest came with a 2-1 win over Jeju United. Brazilian star Leanardo scored a spectacular goal and then veteran Lee Dong-gook made it two. Jeonbuk has Asian Champions League commitments in midweek but more than any other team in the Land of the Morning Calm, has the strength in depth to challenge at home and overseas.

FC Seoul lost its opening game of the season at Jeonju but has bounced back with two straight wins. The second came against a poor Incheon United team. Park Chu-young, the prodigal son of Korean football, scored two and showed fans that trademark fall to the knees in prayer celebration twice.

It had been hard for Park. Seoul has two excellent foreign strikers in Adriano and Dejan Damjanovic. The former, a Brazilian, has already scored an incredible 11 goals this season so far, two in the league and nine in the Asian Champions League. Damjanovic is perhaps the best foreign striker in the K-League's history.

“Dejan and Adriano have linked up so well and even for me, it is exciting to watch,” said Park, who returned to Seoul last season after spells in Europe with Monaco and Arsenal, after the game. It marked the first time in over nine years since the 30 year-old had scored more than one goal in the K-League.

“I am happy to get some goals today and we are looking forward to the rest of the season with confidence.”

It is good news for Seoul coach Choi Yong-soo who will be able to rotate his strikers through some busy periods in the coming weeks to keep them fresh.

Suwon Bluewings, runner-up in 2015, picked up a first win of the year, defeating Sangju Sangmu 2-1 at home. “It was a very important win for us,” said Suwon coach Seo Jung-won. “The burden was there after five winless games (two of those came in the Asian Champions League) but this could be a turning point for us.”

With players starting to return from injury, Suwon can start to look forward with a little more confidence than before.

Pohang Steelers' new coach Choi Jin-cheul tasted defeat for the first time in the league at Seongnam but his worries are nothing compared to Incheon United who has yet to pick up a single point and if matters don't improve soon will be starting to worry about relegation.