Daejeon Hana Citizen will look to make it two wins in a row against Pohang after showing sharp offense.
Daejeon Hana Citizen will host the Pohang Steelers in the 27th round of the Hana OneQ K League 1 2023 at 7 p.m. on April 20 at the Pohang Steelyard. Daejeon is currently in sixth place (36 points) with nine wins, nine draws, and eight losses in 26 league games.바카라
In the last round, Daejeon secured a thrilling victory. Daejeon welcomed FC Seoul to their home for a head-to-head matchup. Daejeon earned a 1-0 victory over Daegu FC on March 22. The win broke a six-match winless streak and set the stage for a rebound, but a loss to Gwangju FC kept the momentum going. However, Daejeon got back on the winning track with a 4-3 victory over Seoul, who are in second place.
It’s encouraging to see a burst of firepower after so long. Daejeon now has 39 points in 26 games, tied with Pohang for the third most in the league. Against Seoul, Daejeon’s hot offense was on full display. Daejeon began pressuring Seoul from the start of the game and opened the scoring in the 31st minute. Thiago found the back of the net with a powerful left-footed shot after a clever pass from Massa. In the 41st minute, Thiago completed his hat trick with a penalty kick to widen the gap. Daejeon came out on fire in the second half. With the score at 2-1, Bae Jun-ho played a one-two with Yoo Kang-hyun in the 41st minute and calmly finished. In the 45th minute, Kang Yoon-sung scored his first goal since joining Daejeon with a sharp shot from the edge of the box. In the end, Daejeon defeated Seoul 4-3 and took all three points. This is the first time Daejeon has had a game with more than three goals since the end of May, when they shared a total of six goals with Ulsan Hyundai. It was a refreshing change of pace in the mid-summer heat.
Now, Daejeon travels to Pohang to continue their winning streak. It’s a great opportunity to close the gap on second-place Pohang to seven points. The two teams have met twice this season, playing to a 0-0 draw in the first meeting in mid-May in Pohang, where Daejeon conceded an early goal in the seventh minute of the second half, but were quickly equalized by Cho Yoo-min just a minute later. Despite conceding a second goal in the 21st minute of the second half, Jeon Byung-kwan scored 10 minutes later to level the score at 2-2. Despite conceding a late goal in stoppage time, it was an evenly matched performance. They should be confident going into this game.
The key player is striker Thiago. Thiago is the team’s top scorer with nine goals in 24 appearances this season. He is only three points behind Ulsan’s In-Jae Gyu, who is the team’s top scorer. In his last game against Seoul, Thiago scored two goals in the first half alone to lead the team to victory. He has the ability to score multiple goals in a game, so he’s in contention for the top scorer award. Thiago is determined to score in back-to-back games against Pohang to ignite the scoring race.
Forward Yoo Kang-hyun has also been supporting Daejeon’s offense lately with his active moves in the offensive zone. In the last match, he assisted Bae Joon-ho’s third goal with an exquisite pass and link-up play. Last year, Yoo was the top scorer in K League 2 with 19 points. However, he hasn’t scored a goal so far this season. In the 22nd round against Jeonbuk, Yoo cried tears of joy with his teammates when he scored a late goal to tie the game at 1-1, but was ruled offside after VAR review. Despite not scoring a goal, Yoo Kang-hyun has been making a dedicated team effort in the attacking third, whether it’s playing post to connect the ball to his teammates while competing with the opposing defense or sometimes moving to the flanks to participate in flanking attacks.
Coach Lee Min-sung said, “She is doing everything perfectly except scoring. I’m really satisfied. Yoo Kang-hyun will surely score a goal, and I will wait for him to score. I’m not worried about it because I think it will happen,” he said. It will be interesting to see if Yoo Kang-hyun, who started his professional career in Pohang, can repay Lee Min-sung’s faith in him and succeed in the first Masugi goal of the season against his hometown team.
Going into the match against Pohang, head coach Lee Min-sung said, “With our last win against Seoul, we laid the groundwork to move up the table. To continue this trend, we need to get a result against Pohang. We are still winless against Pohang this season with one draw and one loss. We will do our best to get our first win against Pohang this season.”
Photo courtesy of Daejeon Hana Citizen