Round 29 Digest: Seoul E-Land FC vs Gimhae FC

A goal down in a storm and six goals scored by the end: Seoul E-Land came from behind to beat Gimhae 6-2 at a flooded Mokdong, equalled the club’s record for goals in a match, scored the club’s 600th goal along the way, and cut Suwon FC’s lead on goals scored to one.

The Round in One Paragraph

Seoul E-Land beat Gimhae 6-2 at Mokdong Stadium on Sunday in pouring rain and a strong-wind warning, in front of 2,904. They went behind on 20 minutes to a Woo Je-uk header, levelled four minutes later through Park Jae-yong from a corner, and led by the half-hour when Alan Carius‘s cross from the left skidded through untouched, the 600th goal in the club’s history. Euller scored with his right foot early in the second half, Son Hyuk-chan came on at halftime and scored the first goal of his career, Lee Seung-jae pulled one back, Euller curled in a free kick on 85, and Kim Hyun made it six on 90. It was a third straight win, Kim Do-gyun’s 50th as Seoul E-Land manager, and the most goals the club has ever scored in a match, equalling its record. Suwon FC had won at Seongnam with a 96th-minute goal the day before, so the two sides are level on 54 points, Suwon FC with a game in hand, and Suwon FC now lead on goals scored, the first tiebreaker, by 53 to 52. Seoul have the Round 30 bye and are mathematically certain of a playoff place.

Match Report

Kim Do-gyun went back to a back three. Caio Marcelo started alongside Osmar and Baek Ji-woong, the third time the Brazilian and the Spaniard have started together, with Bae Seo-jun at left wing-back and Oh In-pyo on the right. Park Chang-hwan and Yoon Seok-ju held the middle and Carius, Park Jae-yong and Euller started up front. Min Sung-jun was in goal. Gimhae, in their second match under caretaker Choi Myeong-seong, lined up in a 4-4-2: Choi Pil-su in goal, Lee Yu-chan, Yeo Jae-yul, Hong Wook-hyun and Pyo Geon-hee across the back, Seong Ho-young, Gwak Seong-uk, Choi Won-cheol and Lee Kang-uk in midfield, and Woo Je-uk and Lee Seung-jae in attack. Choi had said before kickoff that his side had prepared to win.

The weather was the third team. It rained throughout, the wind warning was in force, and by the second half the commentators were pointing at standing water where dribbles simply stopped. Seoul started as if they wanted it over early. Baek Ji-woong drove forward from the back three in the opening minutes and crossed for Choi Pil-su to collect, Euller hit a shot from distance straight at him, and Euller’s first corners whipped in with a curve that the broadcast thought had startled the goalkeeper. Choi punched two of them away. Gimhae’s answer was Lee Kang-uk, switching wings and putting crosses in from both sides, and one of them nearly worked when the follow-up shot dropped onto the roof of the net.

On 20 minutes it did work. Seong Ho-young crossed, the ball skidded on the wet surface, and Woo Je-uk, arriving behind the defence, headed it in. Kim Do-gyun’s verdict afterward was blunt: the ball had not been dealt with quickly enough in Seoul’s own area.

It took four minutes to undo. A Seoul corner was punched out by Choi Pil-su, Oh In-pyo met the loose ball with a first-time volley, and it went in. The broadcast called it Oh’s goal; the league’s official record gives it to Park Jae-yong, with Oh’s volley as the assist. On 28, Park Jae-yong, going down, laid the ball out to Carius on the left. Carius crossed with his right foot, nobody touched it, and it skidded off the soaked surface and into the net. Two-one, and the club’s 600th goal.

Seoul ran the rest of the half. Carius had a left-footed shot blocked by Pyo Geon-hee, Euller went past his man on the right, and when Euller intercepted a loose Gimhae pass Park Jae-yong shot over. With Osmar sweeping up behind, the back line gave Gimhae little. Osmar was booked in first-half stoppage time, his first of the season. Gimhae’s last moments of the half were a free kick into the wall and a Lee Yu-chan shot that Min Sung-jun dealt with.

Bae Seo-jun did not come out for the second half, and Son Hyuk-chan took the left side. The first scare of the half was Seoul’s own: Min Sung-jun misjudged a ball skipping off the water and was nearly caught out, and had to recover it at the second attempt. Then the match went away from Gimhae in eight minutes. On 52 Baek Ji-woong switched the play from left to right, Euller took it down on the right of the area, and instead of shifting onto his left foot he knocked it half a beat to the right and hit it with his right before the defender’s leg arrived. Three-one. Son Hyuk-chan was booked on 55, and five minutes later he scored: Carius slipped a pass into him in the box, he took one touch to set it and drove it low across Choi Pil-su into the far corner, using the wet surface. Four-one, and the first goal of his career, scored by an academy product.

Gimhae pulled one back on 64. A corner was aimed beyond the far post, cushioned back across, and crossed again, and Lee Seung-jae finished it, Seong Ho-young’s second assist of the afternoon. Choi Myeong-seong said afterward that his side conceded quickly after scoring and let two in during a disorderly spell, and that his players were down. Hong Wook-hyun was booked on 71.

Kim Do-gyun’s next changes were about goals, not about protecting a lead, which he said afterward in as many words: on 75, Kim Hyun replaced Osmar and Ahn Joo-wan replaced Carius, and Ahn had a shot on target within two minutes. Cho Jun-hyun came on for Park Jae-yong on 83 and Seo Jin-seok for Yoon Seok-ju on 88. In between, Choi Won-cheol made what the broadcast called a super tackle to stop Park Chang-hwan in the box, Gimhae’s Lee Jun-gyu had a shot saved, and Euller drove at the defence and won a free kick in a dangerous position. Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming. On 85 he curled it with his left foot over the wall and past Choi Pil-su. Five-two.

The sixth came on the stroke of 90. Park Chang-hwan found Kim Hyun in the box and Kim finished. In stoppage time Kim Hyun headed in a seventh from Euller’s cross, but it was ruled out for offside, Cho Jun-hyun’s involvement in the move being the issue. Oh In-pyo was booked in the third minute of stoppage time, and Min Sung-jun dealt with one last Gimhae chance before the whistle.

Seoul finished with 15 shots to 9, nine on target to four, and nine corners to seven. Gimhae had 51 percent of the ball overall: Seoul had 56 percent in the first half and only 41 in the second, which is what a lead of three goals and a waterlogged pitch will do.

Player Performances

Euller (에울레르): Two goals, both of them in their own way the best of the day. The first was the shot nobody expected from him, the right foot. Asked about it on the broadcast, he said in Portuguese that the right foot was a weakness he identified at the very start of his career, that in training he tries “at least to hit the target,” and that defenders always plan for the left. “Today one went in, thank God.” The second was the left-footed free kick everyone expected and nobody stopped; he told the press conference he was very happy to score one when the chance finally came this year. Eleven league goals, joint fourth in the division, and by MyDaily’s count Seoul are unbeaten in all 18 league matches in which he has scored for the club. The league’s data had him as Seoul’s best-rated player, with four key passes.

Alan Carius (까리우스): A goal and an assist, and the goal was the club’s 600th. It was a cross that went in, which he will not mind, and he then set up Son Hyuk-chan’s first career goal with a pass into the box. Kim Do-gyun said he wanted to congratulate him on the milestone but had no time to dwell on it. Off on 75 with the job done.

Park Jae-yong (박재용): The equaliser, by the league’s record, and the assist for Carius four minutes later, laid off while falling. Eleven goals, level with Euller, and the two of them have now both scored in the same match three times this season, all three of them wins.

Son Hyuk-chan (손혁찬): On at halftime, booked ten minutes later, and scored five minutes after that, one touch to set it and a calm, low finish into the far corner. It was the first goal of his career, and Sports Kyunghyang made the point that he came through the club’s own academy. The booking was his fifth of the season, which brings a one-match ban, so he misses the trip to Yongin.

Caio Marcelo (카이오) and Osmar (오스마르): 192 and 191 centimetres, and the calmest men on the pitch. Caio completed 39 of his 42 passes on a surface where the ball kept stopping, the best rate of any Seoul starter apart from Park Chang-hwan; Osmar completed 42 of 51 and won four aerial duels before he made way for an extra striker. They have now started three matches together and Seoul are unbeaten in all three. More on both of them, and on the strikers, in Twin Towers at the Back.

Kim Hyun (김현): On for 15 minutes plus stoppage time and scored the sixth, then had a seventh ruled out. That is a winning assist at Gimpo and a goal against Gimhae from his last two substitute appearances.

Oh In-pyo (오인표): A volley the broadcast thought was a goal and the league counted as an assist, his fifth of the season, the joint most in the squad. Completed 51 of 57 passes from right wing-back. Booked late, his third.

Seong Ho-young (성호영, Gimhae): Two assists from a side that lost 6-2, both from his deliveries. Gimhae’s best player.

Fan Reaction

The image of the afternoon was the crowd in the rain. Euller’s last words on the broadcast were for them: he could only say thank you, he said, for supporting the team through weather like that. Choi Myeong-seong began his press conference by apologising to the Gimhae supporters who had made the trip for conceding so many.

The papers enjoyed the weather metaphors. Sports Kyunghyang’s headline had six goals pouring down with the rain, and Starnews led on the club’s scoring record and on the chase of Suwon FC. MyDaily built its coverage around Kim Do-gyun’s 50th win in charge and the manager’s refusal to make anything of it. Sports Kyunghyang noted that it was Seoul’s fifth comeback win of the season.

News and Transfers

• Milestones: the club’s 600th goal (Carius, 28 minutes; Park Jae-yong’s equaliser was the 599th); six goals equals the club record for a single match; Kim Do-gyun’s 50th win as Seoul E-Land manager; a fifth comeback win of the season.
• Discipline: Son Hyuk-chan’s booking was his fifth and brings a one-match ban, so he misses Yongin on October 31. Oh In-pyo is on three yellow cards, Osmar on one. Baek Ji-woong and Kim Oh-kyu remain on four, one from a ban.
• Kim Oh-kyu did not play for a second straight match. The club has not given a reason.
• Suwon FC won 2-1 at Seongnam on Saturday: Han Chan-hee scored on 37, Seongnam equalised through Yoo Ju-an on 84, and Gu Bon-cheol won it in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
• Suwon Samsung beat Hwaseong 3-2 at the same time as Seoul kicked off, their sixth straight win by Newspim’s count, and are five points clear at the top.
• Elsewhere: Daegu beat Chungbuk Cheongju 3-1, Busan beat Jeonnam 2-1, Gimpo beat Paju 4-1 and Gyeongnam and Chungnam Asan drew 0-0. Yongin, Seoul’s next opponents, lost 0-4 at home to Ansan on Saturday, Lima scoring a hat-trick. Cheonan had the bye.

Tactical and Strategic Watch

The back three is back, and it has a new shape. Caio and Osmar side by side with Baek Ji-woong is the version of the back three Seoul used to beat Daegu, and on Sunday it let Baek step out and carry the ball forward, which is how the third goal started. The cost is at the edges: both Gimhae goals came from crosses into the space between the centre-backs and the wing-backs, and Kim Do-gyun named slow clearing in his own area as the reason for the first.

The substitutes were sent on to score. At 4-2 with a quarter of an hour to go, Kim Do-gyun took off Osmar and Carius and sent on Kim Hyun and Ahn Joo-wan, then Cho Jun-hyun and Seo Jin-seok. He said afterward that the reason was to score more, and that is the right instinct: on equal points the tiebreaker is goals scored, and both goals after the 75th minute came once those changes were made, one of them from Kim Hyun.

Set pieces are a weapon again. Nine corners, an equaliser from one of them, and a direct free kick. Gimhae’s second goal came from the second phase of their own corner, so it cuts both ways. With two 190-centimetre centre-backs plus Park Jae-yong and Kim Hyun, Seoul’s dead balls now have four genuine aerial targets.

The goals tiebreaker is now live. Going into the weekend, Suwon FC led Seoul by five on goals scored, which meant level points were as good as a defeat, and their win at Seongnam on Saturday stretched it to seven. After the 6-2 the gap is one. Kim Do-gyun said the narrowing was a positive sign and could put pressure on Suwon FC. It also changes how the last four matches should be played: a 3-0 is worth more than a 1-0.

Standings Snapshot

After the complete Round 29:

#	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Suwon Samsung	27	18	5	4	46	23	59
2	Suwon FC	27	15	9	3	53	30	54
3	Seoul E-Land	28	16	6	6	52	32	54
4	Daegu	27	14	7	6	51	36	49
5	Busan	28	13	6	9	44	36	45
6	Hwaseong	28	12	8	8	43	31	44
7	Gimpo	27	9	11	7	35	32	38

Seoul have four matches left after the Round 30 bye; Suwon Samsung, Suwon FC and Daegu have five each. The top two go up automatically; third to sixth go into the playoffs, and Seoul are now certain to be in them at worst.

The Tracker grades this round as a hit for both calls, the July prediction (win) and the September simulation (win, 83 percent). Our own preview got the result and nothing else: it predicted 2-0 and a back four. The model, rerun after the complete round, now gives Seoul a 26 percent chance of the top two, up from 18 before the weekend, with Suwon FC on 74 and Suwon Samsung on 98.5. The rise is the 6-2 itself plus the goals it added, since Suwon FC won too. Seoul’s most likely finish is third (62 percent), and the simulation’s average final total for them is 62.6 points. The full picture is in Chasing K1.

Looking Ahead

Round 30: the bye. Seoul do not play. The weekend is about the rivals: Daegu are at Jeonnam on Saturday October 24, and on Sunday October 25 Suwon FC host Chungnam Asan and Suwon Samsung go to Seongnam, both at 14:00. The model makes Suwon FC 63 percent to beat Asan; if they do not, Seoul’s top-two chance rises to about 41 percent.

Round 31: Yongin FC v Seoul E-Land, Saturday October 31, 14:00, Yongin Mireu Stadium. Yongin are 13th on 27 points, without a win in five, and lost 0-4 at home to Ansan on Saturday. The reverse fixture at Mokdong in May finished 2-2. Seoul will be without the suspended Son Hyuk-chan. The model makes it 70 percent Seoul, 19 draw, 11 Yongin; a win would lift the top-two chance to about a third. Suwon Samsung are at Daegu the same afternoon, and Suwon FC host Ansan the following day.

My Honest Read

Six-two flatters the first half an hour and undersells the rest. Seoul were a goal down to the bottom club, in conditions that make everything a lottery, and they did not panic: the equaliser came within four minutes and the lead within eight. After that it was a team that knew exactly what it needed, which was not three points but three points and goals, and a manager who kept sending on attackers until the goals came. The weaknesses are real: crosses into the channels, and a tendency to give a weak opponent hope. But the thing that has dogged this team all autumn, chances without goals, did not happen on Sunday. Suwon FC are still in charge of second place, level on points with a game in hand. What changed is that if they slip once, Seoul are now close enough on goals for it to matter.