Will Jeonbuk Hyundai face a situation where it falls to Group B in the final round for the first time in the club’s history?
Jeonbuk will play the 33rd round of ‘Hana One Q K League 1 2023’ against FC Seoul at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 3 pm on the 8th. It is a meeting between Jeonbuk, which is ranked 7th, and Seoul, which is ranked 5th.
The saying that worrying about Jeonbuk is useless is no longer accepted. The time has come to worry about Jeonbuk. This seems to be the first season where people are truly worried about Jeonbuk since they won the K-League title for the first time in 15 years in 2009. Of course, Jeonbuk Province had difficulties along the way, but they were never this serious.
Since the split system was implemented in 2013, Jeonbuk has never been included in the final round Group B. It is an incredible record that only Jeonbuk has among K-League clubs. Until last season, the team was competing for the championship, and the team representing Asia beyond Korea was in danger of falling to Final B.
It would be fortunate, but there are still many cases in which Jeonbuk advances to the final round of Group A. First, we just have to beat Seoul. If Jeonbuk wins, they will have 49 points, so they can head to Final A regardless of the results of 6th place Incheon United and Ulsan Hyundai.
If we draw with Seoul, we have to hope that Ulsan catches Incheon. Of course, even that is only possible if a goal is scored and a draw is achieved against Seoul. If Jeonbuk draws against Seoul without scoring a goal, they will not be able to move up to 6th place because they will be behind Incheon in terms of goals. Even if Incheon loses, if they score a goal and lose, Jeonbuk’s hopes become very slim.
What if we win the game against Seoul and advance to Final A on our own? After scoring a goal and drawing a draw, the expectation that Ulsan win against Incheon without conceding a goal is unbecoming of a prestigious club representing the K-League.
Jeonbuk is the team with the most wins in the K League. Although they finally lost first place to Ulsan last season, they were clear favorites to win this season as well. Power is like that. There are many national team-level players, and the name value of the foreign players is spectacular. There is no club in the K League that can invest as much money as Jeonbuk right now.
Although it may not be a world where soccer is completely engulfed by the logic of money, the strength of Jeonbuk was that they knew that they would produce results in proportion to the money they invested. There may be excuses. It is true that the situational conditions did not help Jeonbuk, such as the depressed atmosphere of the team since the time of former coach Kim Sang-sik, frequent player injuries, replacement of coaches, and selection for the 2022레고토토 Hangzhou Asian Games.
But it’s still Jeonbuk. Whatever the reason, it is not easy to accept that the team is in 7th place and is facing the first Final B in history. The same goes for records. Their scoring power (37 goals, 8th in the league) was so low that it seemed like they were a team with the team color “Dakgong.” The only thing that allowed Jeonbuk to aim for Final A was the strength of its defense (31 goals conceded, 2nd in the league).
Even if we compete with Ulsan, who were the favorites for the title, fans may be dissatisfied, but no
It may be fortunate to meet Seoul, which has not won in 19 games against Jeonbuk, but if we only look at the recent trend, we cannot guarantee victory against Seoul at all. The flow is clearly better in Seoul. After switching to the acting manager Kim Jin-gyu system, the team became a team that did not lose easily.
Also, Jeonbuk is not physically well-equipped after traveling to Bangkok. Since Jeonbuk has to worry about scoring multiple goals, they should aim for a lot of goals against Seoul, but the league game in which Jeonbuk scored two goals was the Incheon match two months ago.
It is true that expectations are not high due to coach Dan Petrescu, who is openly expressing his poor performance as an attacker, and the attackers, who have not shown any scoring ability. Even if they make it to Final A after many twists and turns, not many fans will welcome it. This is the current address of Jeonbuk.
w we have to pray for Ulsan to win to avoid the humiliating record of being the first Final B in history.
