Gimcheon hold Ulsan to 0-0 draw on return to K League 1

Football

Published: 21 Feb. 2022, 15:37 Updated: 21 Feb. 2022, 16:27

Gimcheon hold Ulsan to 0-0 draw on return to K League 1

Ulsan Hyundai's Kim Young-gwon, left, and Gimcheon Sangmu's Cho Gue-sung vie for the ball during a K League 1 match on Sunday at Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan. [YONHAP]

The new K League season started over the weekend, with Gimcheon Sangmu coming fresh off promotion to hold last year's runner-up Ulsan Hyundai to a 0-0 draw in on Sunday.

Gimcheon Sangmu returned to the top league this season after being relegated to the K League 2 on a technicality after finishing fourth in the K League 1 in the 2020 season. In the 2021 season, Gimcheon were able to comfortably secure the top spot in the K League 2 to guarantee a move up to the first division on Oct. 17, 2021, with two matches remaining.

In the K League, the bottom club from the K League 1 is automatically relegated and the top team from the K League 2 takes their place in the top tier. The second-to-last K League 1 team competes in a playoff each year with one of the runners-up from the K League 2. If the K League 2 club wins, they are promoted and the K League 1 club is relegated.

Last season, Gwangju FC were relegated to the second division after finishing at the bottom of the K League 1 and Gimcheon Sangmu were promoted to the top tier after topping the second division league.

Gimcheon faced 2021 season runners-up Ulsan Hyundai on Sunday for their first match of the 2022 K League 1 season. As expected, Ulsan were not an easy opponent.

Throughout the match, Ulsan constantly hammered at Gimcheon's goal post, recording 20 shots, 10 of which were on target, while Gimcheon only had six shots, only two of which were on target.

Things could have turned out very badly for Gimcheon after Ha Chang-rae was sent off in the 62nd minute when he picked up a second yellow card for crashing into Jun Amano of Ulsan.

Yet despite Gimcheon being one-man short and Ulsan controlling 60 percent of the ball throughout the match, Gimcheon were able to hold Ulsan to a 0-0 draw on with some tight defense.

Park Chu-young, who signed with Ulsan this season after parting ways with FC Seoul on Dec. 28, ending 10 years with the club, did not appear on Sunday's match.

Gimcheon Sangmu's Kwon Chang-hoon, left, dribbles the ball past Ulsan Hyundai's Kim Min-jun during a K League 1 match on Sunday at Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan. [NEWS1]

The draw comes as a disappointing result for Ulsan, especially considering that they had the upper hand playing their first match at home. After a disappointing end to the season last year, Ulsan is looking for a top-place finish this year to end their 16-year league trophy drought.

Ulsan had an anticlimactic 2021 season that saw them slip two points behind winner Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors despite a 2-0 win against Daegu FC in the final match. The runner-up finish was their 10th.

Sunday's match between Gimcheon and Ulsan came after the 10 other clubs had finished their first matches. On Saturday, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors beat Suwon FC 1-0, FC Seoul beat Daegu FC 2-0 and Incheon United beat Suwon Samsung Bluewings 1-0. On Sunday, the Pohang Steelers beat Jeju United 3-0 while Gangwon FC beat Seongnam FC 2-0.

All 12 K League 1 clubs will be looking to land in the top nine starting this season because in addition to the current promotion-relegation playoff, which pits the 11th team in the K League 1 against a lower-ranked team looking for promotion, the 10th team in the K League 1 will now also have to play a playoff.

The 10th-place team will play the winner of a series of playoffs played between the third to fifth K League 2 clubs. Only the top nine K League 1 clubs will be guaranteed a spot in the top tier at the end of the season.

The K League 1 continues this weekend with the Suwon derby, as the Bluewings face Suwon FC at 2 p.m on Saturday.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]