Weekend Picks

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Weekend Picks

BASEBALL

Korea Baseball Organization

KT Wiz at LG Twins

6:30 p.m. Friday, Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul

The KBO goes into its fifth week of the season this weekend.

The Suwon based KT Wiz, in its second season in the top division of professional baseball in Korea, will take on the LG Twins at the Twins’ home in Jamsil, arguably one of the most intimidating venues for a non-Seoul based team with baseball crazed Seoul fans filling up the stadium.

Despite its inexperience in the KBO, the Wiz are doing phenomenal, staying in the top portion of the KBO league standings. The Wiz, in fact, caught everyone by surprise when it finished second during the preseason games. Its outfielder Kim Sa-yeon also topped the home run rankings during the preseason. The team’s record against the Twins last year was eight wins and eight draws. They are also closely ranked together in the KBO standings, going into a tug-of-war to remain within the top five.

The Twins, who finished ninth last season, look to grab wins early on this year in order to stay competitive to play in the postseason in upcoming fall.



FOOTBALL

K-League Classic

Suwon FC at Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

4 p.m. Saturday, Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonju

Ninth ranked Suwon FC will take on undefeated defending champion Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in an away game in Jeonju this weekend.

Coming out of a 0-0 draw against Incheon United FC last week, Suwon has been unable to grab even a single win since the fourth round of the K-League Classic. Suwon is plagued with tie games as its season record so far stands at one win, one loss and five draws. In the past seven games, Suwon has managed to score a mere five goals.

Jeonbuk, however, is not doing so well in the league either in terms of number of winning games. Although ranked at second in the league standings, it only had three wins while tying four matches. In many games this season, Jeonbuk saw its defense crumble towards the end of a match to concede equalizers to its opponents.

The trademark of both Suwon and Jeonbuk is their strong offense. If they manage to pull off their style of football tomorrow, the game is expected to be full of entertaining offensive plays.


Ulsan Hyundai FC at Incheon United FC

2 p.m. Sunday, Incheon Football Stadium, Incheon

Ulsan Hyundai FC is coming out of a loss to championship frontrunner FC Seoul last week as it travels all the way to Incheon to take on the bottom ranked Incheon United FC on Sunday.

Ulsan could have come out at least with a draw against top ranked Seoul last week as it scored an equalizer just before the end of the first half. However, during injury time after the second half, Ulsan’s defense failed to contain Seoul’s star forward Park Chu-young who dribbled the ball from near the halfway line into Ulsan’s penalty box to net a brilliant shot off his right foot.

After the loss, Ulsan finished eighth in the rankings with two wins, three losses and two draws under its belt. What Ulsan needs at the moment is for its national team striker Lee Jeong-hyeop to come alive.

Incheon, in comparison, concluded the seventh round with a draw. But despite the hard-earned tie against Suwon FC last weekend, Incheon is ranked 12th at the bottom of the league standings without any wins but with four losses and three draws. Incheon looks to secure its first win of the season against Ulsan on Sunday at home.

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