Jeonbuk Hyundai of the K-League 1 managed to maintain its 10th position. Despite massive investment, the team was pushed to the verge of falling to the 11th place, but managed to keep its pride. Rather than keeping the 10th place on its own, it was more like a result of the defeat of Daegu FC, which was ranked 11th on the same day. Even in the final match, fans’ cries of “Wake up, Jeonbuk” rang out several times, clearly representing Jeonbuk’s humble status.
Jeonbuk, led by head coach Kim Doo-hyun, drew 1-1 with Gwangju FC in the final match of the 38th round of Hana Bank K League 1 2024 at 2 p.m. on the 24th at Gwangju Football Stadium.
With the draw, Jeonbuk had 42 points (10 wins, 12 draws and 16 losses), finishing the regular league in 10th place, ahead of Daegu (40 points), which lost to Incheon United at the same time. Jeonbuk has finished 10th, the lowest ranking in 18 years since it ranked 11th in 2006. It is also the lowest ranking in the club’s history since the split was introduced in 2012.
Jeonbuk, ranked 10th in the K-League 1, will play a match against Seoul E-Land (ranked 3rd in the K-League 2) who won the K-League 2 PO. If it had fallen to 11th place, it could have had a match against Chungnam Asan, ranked 2nd in the K-League, in the PO. While avoiding a fall in 11th place, it ended up facing a lower ranking team in the K-League 2.
However, Jeonbuk’s performance this season was so disastrous that it was a matter of which team to play the PO against, and it was desperate to stay. Jeonbuk, which invested nearly 20 billion won in player annual salary alone as of last year, has been at the bottom of the list throughout this season. It was most important to boost the mood in the final match. “It is more meaningful to prepare for the match first, rather than thinking about which team to meet (in the PO),” Jeonbuk coach Kim Doo-hyun said.
As a result, Jeonbuk failed to change its mood even in the final match. On the same day, Gwangju’s Minseo header hit the crossbar in the third minute of the first half, sweeping away the team’s chest. Since then, Gwangju’s offensive has shaken the defense repeatedly. It was such a poor performance that fans’ chants of “Wake up, Jeonbuk” rang out in the 13th minute of the first half.
Jeonbuk also had Park Jae-yong’s strong header hitting the post, but the overall flow of the game was developed in a way that Gwangju led the game. Gwangju’s ball possession in the first half reached 66%, and Jeonbuk focused on counterattacks after defending even with national team-level power. After the middle of the first half, fans’ sad cries filled the stadium once again. 온라인카지노
Jeonbuk found a way to attack only in the second half when Thiago, Kwon Chang-hoon and Lee Seung-woo were deployed in turn. It also broke the balance first in the 29th minute of the second half. When the ball cleared by the opponent’s defense fell after Kwon Chang-hoon, Thiago connected with a right footed shot to score the first goal. As coach Kim Doo-hyun wished, it seemed to change the mood ahead of the promotion PO.
However, Jeonbuk failed to secure the goal in the end. While blocking the opponent team’s breakthrough at the last minute of the second half, Lee Young-jae’s foul declared a penalty kick. Jeonbuk players strongly protested against the danger of losing its victory, but the decision was not reversed. Jeonbuk lost the equalizer to Shin Chang-moo.
In the end, the two teams ended in a 1-1 draw. Jeonbuk managed to maintain its 10th place despite the draw on the news of Daegu’s 1-3 loss to Incheon United. Jeonbuk, however, remains deeply disappointed as it sought to change the mood in the final match.