Korean clubs seek big spark

When coaches talk to the media between the first and second legs of knockout competitions, the clich used is used by both those who won as well as lost. “It is only halftime in this tie,” goes the refrain, which continues, “And there is still a lot of soccer to be played.”

It is a big week for Korean soccer in the Asian Champions League with all three clubs in the quarterfinal of the competition with work to do if they want to make the last four. None of them won in the first leg. It is hard to say who is in the best position.

The worst is probably FC Seoul. The defending K-League champions lost 3-1 to Al Ittihad in the first leg and need a serious turnaround at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Tuesday evening (7:30 p.m. local time). The trip to Saudi Arabia was a long one and after conceding a last-minute goal in Jeddah, the journey home was even longer. Seoul has much work to do in the second leg against a team that won the continental title in 2004 and 2005.

It remains to be seen what happens. Despite that loss, Seoul is in great form at home with nine wins out of the last ten games. The latest was a 4-1 thrashing of Daejeon Citizen on Saturday with super striker Dejan Damjanovic grabbing a hat-trick. The marauding Montenegrin marksman has now scored 22 goals this season in the K-League and if he can do something similar against the Saudis then Seoul may not be dead and buried. The team will take heart from Pohang Steelers’ exploits in 2009. At the same stage, Pohang looked down and out after losing 3-1 to Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan but returned home to win the return match 4-1 and then went on to become champion, defeating Al Ittihad in the final.

“Of course, it is difficult to predict the result but we are confident that we can get a good result,” said Seoul coach Choi Yong-soo.

If Seoul does overcome the first leg deficit, the team will meet the winner of the Jeonbuk Motors-Cerezo Osaka tie. The first leg in Japan was a thriller with the host winning 4-3. The K-League leader went ahead three times but was unable to prevent Cerezo coming back each time and then scoring to hold the advantage going into the second leg. It promises to be quite a match at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, with the host taking comfort from the fact that it won 1-0 at home when the two teams met in the group stage. The same result would be enough.

“We need to make sure that we stay focused for the whole match,” said Jeonbuk boss Choi Kang-hee.

Much depends on Lee Dong-guk. He is in great form and scored twice in Japan to add to his 14 goals in the K-league so far this season. If he can do the same tonight, it should be enough.

Suwon was the only team not to lose the first leg but the Gyeonggi giant was at home against Iranian team Zob Ahan. There were enough opportunities for the K-League team to win but they were not taken. Zob Ahan, who lost in the final to Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma last year, had two chances and scored one. It was a lesson in clinical finishing and one that Suwon would do well to learn before the match in Isfahan this week. In fact, all three teams can’t afford any more slipups. There are no more second chances.

By John Duerden, Contributing writer 
(johnduerden@hotmail.com)