Kashima Antlers 2-3 FC Seoul: AFC Recap
Winning the lottery (From instausers.com). |
Wow! What a game! Choi Soo Yong must have a horse shoe up his ass. What a lucky bastard! I wish I could have been there to see Molina’s “holy shit” moment. Hell, I wish the cameras had not cut out at the end. No one got to see the goal originally except for the 12 FC Seoul fans that traveled to Japan. It did not switch back on until after the game was over, at which point it panned over to FC Seoul fans Senad and Paul celebrating shirtless at the end.
Anyways, FC Seoul traveled to Japan on Children’s Day to take on Kashima Antlers. As I mentioned in the preview, this was a critical game for both teams, as each needed to win to advance. This is especially true since Guangzhou shit the bed and lost 2-0 to Western Sydney. I predicted that Seoul would win 1-0, but I really wasn’t expecting much, especially after they went down 1-0 early. Therefore, I did not really keep too many notes on the game.
Looking at the statistics, Kashima dominated the game in terms of shots taken and possession. Kashima had the ball for 59% of the game and took 12 (9 on target) shots compared to only 4 shots for Seoul (2 on target). However, Seoul had six corners while Kashima had four, and Seoul made these count, scoring off of one in the first half. In my opinion though, the statistics for once do not tell the story of the game.
This was a great game, with both teams going up and down the field and playing to their strengths. Kashima, playing 4-4-2, attacked constantly and Seoul, in 3-5-2 formation, set up to counter. Here is a quick rundown of the highlights.
8th minute: Kashima Antlers score a wonderful goal. Kashima striker Doi received the ball in the center and passed it to Akashi at the top of the box, who turned and struck it first time. It was a great strike, but Kim Nam Choon and Lee Woong Hee left too much space and one of them should have been closer to him (Kim Nam Choon maybe).
28th minute: Kashima Antlers have a free kick. The winger Endo steps up and cracks it against the bar. Caio gets the rebound and shoots but Yang Sang Hoon is in the right place to deflect it out for a corner.
36th minute: Cha Du Ri wins a corner. Ko Myong Jin steps up to take the corner and lofts a wonderful ball into the box. Lee Woong Hee makes a great run heads it into the goal. 1-1 for Seoul and now it is game on. It’s redemption for Lee Woong Hee, who I criticized quite harshly in the Seongnam game. The Kashima Antler players look as if they have been punched in the stomach. At the end of the first half, Kashima had 8 shots on goal to Seoul’s 2.
I wonder what he had to say at halftime. From goal.com |
51st minute: Osmar scores off a wonderful cross from Yun Il Lok. It deflected off the Kashima player and into the back off the net. A simply amazing start to the second half!
71st minute: Great work by Kashima on the ride side of Seoul’s box. A cross was sent in for Yamamoto at the back stick, but he heads over wide. How did he miss the target?
79th minute: Shibasaki scores. A shit goal, it should have probably been cleared, but great individual effort by Shibasaki. He juggles it once and chips it over the keeper and defender from close range.
88th minute: It has been frantic since Kashima scored. Go Yo Han, on a break after the corner has a great chance. He slips his defender and shoots left footed, but it is straight at the keeper.
89th minute: Seoul had another great chance, but it went to the keeper. At this point, the video feed went out, so I don’t know what really happened.
91st minute: Molina’s “holy shit” moment, which I missed. I hate streams and this is why. They always cut out or freeze up at the most inopportune times. Anyways, Everton passes to Go Yo Han in the box. Go Yo Han sees Molina making a run and passes to him, but it is too hard and it takes a terrible touch behind Molina from his boot. He recovers, gets the ball, takes several steps to his left and shoots- GOAL!!!!!!!!
A damn fine job by all. From zimbio.com |
So yeah, that was it. It’s a tough loss for Kashima, who played a great game. Western Sydney gets two middle fingers, deservedly so since Seoul should have been awarded 3 points against them last month, and are now out of the competition. Hopefully, with the AFC preliminaries finished, they can focus on the league now.
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