Gwangju FC, led by head coach Lee Jung-hyo, is rocking the Asian stage. It has been on a winning streak in the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE), which it played for the first time since its foundation. The trend is exactly the opposite of Ulsan HD, the “K League 1 leader,” which fell to the bottom of the competition.
Gwangju’s blast started on April 17 at the match against Yokohama F. Marinos. Gwangju scored a whopping seven goals and secured a landslide 7-3 victory at its first ACLE match. It was a huge upset against the runner-up at last season’s championship. It was not a surprise victory. It also won 1-0 at the Kawasaki Frontale, the first ACLE away match. Gwangju has become the lone lead among the 12 teams.
The first team that reacted to Gwangju’s storm was Japan, which lost two consecutive games. “Since its foundation in 2010, Gwangju has continued its strides in international competitions,” Kekisaka, a soccer media outlet, said. “We have secured victories over both teams that have led the J-League, including Yokohama and Kawasaki.” Another media outlet, Soccer Digest, said, “Gwangju is a very good team. They are really good.”
The so-called “Jeong Hyo-ball,” which created a sensation in the promotion team last season, seems to be working well on the Asian stage. Teams that are playing against Gwangju for the first time are not easily responding to well-organized Gwangju tactics. “With the system that I have in a week no matter what team I play, I can create 70 to 80 percent,” Lee said after the match against Kawasaki. “Players know what kind of soccer to play well through reviews and training.”
Ulsan, on the other hand, has lost a lot of pride. It has lost two consecutive games against Japanese teams. Given that Ulsan is the No. 1 team in the league seeking to win the K-League title for the third consecutive year and Gwangju is the No. 7 team that remains in the Final B, the trend is all the more remarkable. Both Lee Jung-hyo and Kim Pan-gon, coaches of Ulsan, are new to ACLE, but the results at the beginning of the championship are quite different.
Ulsan lost to Kawasaki 0-1 at its home ground on the 18th of last month. On the 2nd, it allowed two goals each in the first half and the second half on the away road in Yokohama, losing 0-4. It is the first time in five years and five months that Ulsan lost by more than four goals in the ACL including the telegraph competition since its 0-5 defeat against Shanghai Haigang in May 2019. 토토사이트
Among the 12 ACLE teams in East Asia, only the Central Coast (Australia) and Ulsan have won two consecutive games. Ulsan is the only team that has scored no goals for two consecutive games. It is a humiliating start considering that the team is lined with players from the best team and national team in the K League 1 in name and reality. As the team is well known in Asia, rival teams are responding well. On the contrary, Kim Pan-gon’s tactical capabilities and responses have not yet been fully realized in the Asian soccer arena.
The ACLE, which has been reorganized since this season, includes 12 teams from East and West Asia, not from the group league, and each team plays eight matches to determine its ranking. Only the top eight teams from each region can advance to the round of 16 tournaments. “Only four wins (point of 12) can advance to the tournament,” Kim said. There are six more matches to be played.