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| Ricardo Lopes Pereira, left, of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors scores a goal during a Hana 1Q K League match between Jeonbuk Motors and Sangju Sangmu at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Saturday. Yonhap |
By John Duerden
Attention in South Korean soccer has been focused recently on the start of qualification for the 2022 World Cup, which saw the national team take a 2-0 win in Turkmenistan, Tuesday, but the 2019 K League is about to enter its final chapter.
There is much to talk about. The title race is between Jeonbuk Motors and Ulsan Horang-i looks set to go right down to the wire with just three points between the two after 29 games down and nine more to go. The relegation battle is between Jeju United, a team that has had plenty of success over the years, Incheon United and Gyeongnam FC, which placed second last season.
The real surprise is however in the lower mid-table reaches of the 12-team competition. Three seriously famous names started the weekend in the bottom half. Seongnam is the most successful team in the history of the league with seven championships and two Asian crowns.
Those golden days seem like a long time ago now. It was 2006 when the flag of the league champion last flew above the stadium in this city just next to Seoul ― though it was 2010 when the title of Asian champion was won. The problem was that the Reunification Church stopped bankrolling the club. In the past, attendances were small as the city never really fell in love with the winning machine on its doorstep. Without the funds, Seongnam FC has become one of the also-rans, and is a shadow of its former self.
Pohang Steelers is the most successful club in Asian history. No other club on the continent can match the three championships won by the red and black. The soccer club, financed by steel giant POSCO, has put Pohang on the map around the world. Yet this is another iconic club that has fallen on relatively lean times.
In 2013 the Steelers won the K League in dramatic fashion with the last kick of the entire season. Since then the team has seen been more of a mid-table one than a giant.
And then there is Suwon Bluewings. Like the other two, Suwon also knows what it is like to lord it over the rest of Asia with two continental triumphs. A decade or more ago, Suwon World Cup Stadium was the place to be in South Korea in terms of atmosphere and excitement. The good times have faded a little since the last title in 2008. There were successive second-placed finishes in 2014 and 2015 but like the other titans of the K League, Suwon has had no answer to the domination of Jeonbuk Motors.
Those men in green may well be set for fifth title in six seasons (and it was only a nine-point deduction in 2016, handed out after a former club scout was found guilty of bribing referees) that allowed FC Seoul to sneak in on the final day of the season.
Jeonbuk and Ulsan will be fighting it out at the top but a thought should be spared of those giants of Korean soccer that are no longer challenging for titles. All fans of the sport should hope that these famous old notes can get their collective acts together and start climbing towards the summit once again.
