Seoul E-Land v Gyeongnam: Match Preview

Seoul E-Land will bring the first half of the season to a close tonight at what is likely to be a wet and windy Jamsil. A win would see them end the first part of the campaign in second position, which given the rather lacklustre start to the season would not be a bad achievement at all. It's likely to be a tough match though as Gyeongnam have definitely picked things up recently especially away from home while E-Land have looked like the demands of playing twice are week are rapidly catching up with them.

In form terms there isn't a lot between the teams. Seoul have 6 points out of the last possible 15 while Gyeongnam have managed 5. Having said that, Gyeongnam have lost only once in their last 6 away games and racked up good wins away to Suwon and Ansan. Only Sangju managed to get the better of them.

For E-Land, playing at home is something of a novelty having managed to rack up 6 away matches in 7 games before the midweek visit of Goyang. Prior to that was a home defeat also at the hands of Gwangju and before that, the good wins against Suwon and Chungju seem like a life-time ago.

In their prior meeting, it was E-Land that came away the victors on a hot day in Geoje in what was a very entertaining game with some very good finishing on display. On that occasion it ended 3-2 to E-Land but it's doubtful that we will see that many goals this time around. Gyeongnam are fast becoming the masters of the 1-0 away win, having not only the poorest scoring record in the league but also the tightest defence.

Their main striking threat is likely to come from Milos, who missed the last meeting of the teams. With Carlyle Mitchell possibly missing out due to an injury picked up in the Goyang game that might be a big test for his likely young replacement Yang Ki-hoon.

Elsewhere the E-Land team is likely to be largely unchanged from previous matches and they will again be looking for Joo Min-kyu to provide the inspiration for the side. His recent call-up at least to the provisional 50-man EAFF squad may give him a timely boost. It was the last meeting of these sides that earned him his Joo-mes nickname thanks to his incredible volleyed goal so a repeat of that would no doubt be well received.

It'll also be interesting to see how the crowd is at Jamsil tonight. The last game saw their lowest attendance of the season at just over 1,000 and with the weather they may struggle for numbers again tonight. With no games for 3 weeks as the league takes a summer break let's hope that's enough to encourage people off their sofas and along to the match though.