Seoul beat Bluewings in super match at Ulsan hold on to top spot

Football

Published: 11 Apr. 2022, 15:16 Updated: 11 Apr. 2022, 17:45

Seoul beat Bluewings in super match at Ulsan hold on to top spot

Aleksandar Palocevic celebrates after scoring the first goal for FC Seoul against the Suwon Samsung Bluewings at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul on Sunday. [K LEAGUE]

FC Seoul beat the Suwon Samsung Bluewings in the first so-called super match of the 2022 K League season on Sunday.

The Seoul-Suwon super match earned its name years ago, when the two capital area rivals were consistently two of the top teams in the league. Both teams' fates may have taken a turn for the worse in recent years, but the two low-ranked clubs still put on a good show at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul.

The 14,600 fans that gathered in Seoul — the biggest K League crowd since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic — had to wait until the final few minutes of the game before anything especially exciting happened.

After an evenly matched 80 minutes, Seoul's Serbian import Aleksandar Palocevic put the home side ahead, cutting in from the right flank to send the ball curling into the bottom corner of the goal. Seoul added one more in extra time, a Na Sang-ho penalty after the referee ruled — and VAR confirmed — that Cho Young-wook was fouled in the box.

The super match may have had little impact on the league standings, but the 2-0 win couldn't have come sooner for Seoul, who haven't picked up three points since the first game of the season back in mid-February.

At the other end of the table, Ulsan Hyundai extended their lead in first place with a 3-1 over Daegu FC, scoring all three goals in the second half after falling behind early from a penalty in the seventh minute.

Second-place Incheon United held fifth-place Jeju United to a 2-2 draw, despite playing most of the second half with 10 men after Kang Min-soo was sent off in the 63rd minute. The third-place Pohang Steelers also had to settle for a draw, ending a fairly uneventful game with eighth-place Gangwon FC 1-1 with two second half goals.

The reigning champion Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are a conspicuous addition to complete the top four, beating the Bluewings and Seongnam FC over the last week to jump up the table.

Suwon FC beat Gimcheon Sangmu 3-2 on Sunday to complete the weekend fixtures, with prodigal son Lee Seung-woo scoring his third goal and picking up his first assist of the 2022 season.

The K League will now break for four weeks for the AFC Champions League group stages. Daegu, Jeonbuk and Ulsan will all be competing in the continental tournament, as will K League 2 club Jeonnam Dragons.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]