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| Suwon FC forward Lee Seung-woo, front, dribbles the ball during the K League 1 match against Daegu FC at DGB Park in Daegu, Sunday / Yonhap |
By John Duerden
The 2022 K League 1 season reached the halfway stage at the weekend with a very familiar sight. Ulsan Horangi is top of the standings with Jeonbuk Motors in second. The problem for the former is that the positions have been reversed at the end of the last three seasons as Jeonbuk ended up winning, just as it has done in seven of the last eight championships. The Jeolla Province team only missed out in 2016 due to a points deduction.
Ulsan won the last of its two league titles back in 2005 and those last three second-place finishes mean that there have been five runners-up spots since the last time they lifted the trophy. Interestingly, Ulsan has been Asian champion the same number of times it has been Korean champion and more recently too, in 2012 and 2020.
That means last weekend's results would have been a cause for concern at Ulsan. The Tigers lost the East Coast Derby 2-0 to Pohang Steelers. It is always a painful defeat against neighbors and now the eight-point gap over Jeonbuk has been cut to five. There is still a long way to go but Ulsan will feel much better if it can shake off its rival, a team that knows all about winning titles, an under-rated skill. It is especially concerning as the defeat comes following Ulsan's 0-0 with bottom team Seongnam FC, two points dropped that may come back to haunt the team at the end.
As has been the case in recent years, it looks like it will be a two-horse race for the title. Pohang's victory puts the Steelers ten points behind the leader but it is hard to imagine that the team will be able to catch Ulsan.
There is plenty going on lower down the standings. Incheon United F.C., a perennial struggler, is going well in fifth place and if the port city club can finish in the top three, that would be a fine achievement. United has been helped by the goals of Stefan Mugosa, the Montenegrin marksman who has scored 14 in 18 games, more than anyone else.
Those exploits led to a transfer to Vissel Kobe of Japan at the end of the last month with the club doubling his salary. He will be playing alongside the legendary midfielder Andres Iniesta though the big spending Kobe is struggling at the bottom of the standings. Incheon fans will be hoping that their team can maintain its lofty position even without the goalscoring talents of Mugosa.
Daegu, Seoul, Suwon and Gangwon are all battling around the mid-level placings and trying to join Incheon in the top half. Daegu and Seoul, in sixth and seventh, have been drawing too many games. Ten points from the last four games has moved Suwon FC away from relegation danger. Seongnam FC, once the most successful team in Korean soccer, is on course for the second tier with just 12 points from 19 games so far. The team has to up its game or it is going down.
As usual, however, the focus will be on the top and after recent events, Ulsan will be keen to return to winning ways to try and keep Jeonbuk at arm's length.
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