Recap: Daejeon Citizen 0-2 Daegu FC

On a bright and sunny day in front of a bumper crowd of 18,000 at Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Citizen entertained fellow promotion hopefuls Daegu FC.

Seo Dong-Hyun missed a penalty on his Daejeon debut. Photo Credit: DCFC.co.kr

But despite the clement weather it wasn’t all clear blue skies, certainly not for Daejeon, as it was those whom were donning sky blue that came away with all three points.

A well-taken half volley from Eder and a bullet header from Sergio in the first half condemned Daejeon to a disappointing defeat, which will turn up the heat on underfire boss Choi Moon-Sik.

Daejeon started positively with plenty of endeavour but Choi Moon-Sik’s insistence on passing out of trouble seemed to invite pressure onto the Daejeon.  

Daejeon gifted Daegu the lead thanks to a slip from youngster Kim Hyung-Jin whose error allowed Eder the time and space to fire Daegu ahead with just 10 minutes on the clock.

A long punt forward from the back was met by the head of new Daejeon’s new, towering centre back Bozga and although the Congolese-born Romanian defender.

But, despite clearing his lines, the second ball was unchallenged and neatly mopped up by Daegu’s left midfielder player who was allowed the time to pick his spot before sending in a hopeful cross towards the edge of the box.

Lurking at the edge of the D was Brazlian striker Eder had found a pocket of space between Kim Hyung-Jin and Wanderson.

Daejeon’s back three seemed to be too far across to begin with but Kim Hyung-Jin misjudged the flight of the cross, over committed himself before trying to retreat.

The sudden change in direction caused the youngster to slip, allowing Eder the time to control the rather tame cross with his chest and send the ball into the bottom corner past a hapless Lee Beom-Soo in the Daejeon goal.

Wanderson tried to intervene but his fellow countryman had already pulled the trigger, Daejeon 0-1 Daegu.

Then, with less than half an hour played Daejeon found themselves two goals down, again after failing to deal with a ball into the 18 yard box.

From 30 yards out towards the right-hand touchline Lee Jae-Gwon lofted in a ball towards the back post.

Daejeon, despite having no fewer than seven outfield players defending the set piece, failed to track the movement of Sergio who, relatively unopposed, headed the ball across goal into the far bottom corner.

Daejeon’s Bozga failed to get tight to the Brazlian forward after finding himself on the wrong side of his man – two nil.

Daejeon, however, were handed a lifeline just before the interval when referee Mae Ho-Young awarded Citizen a spot kick.

A Gustavo corner from the right was punched clear by Daegu midfielder Kim Dong-Jin and with the referee well-placed with a clear view, he had no option but to point to the spot.

Up stepped debutant Seo Dong-Hyun but the on-loan Jeju United striker hit his penalty too close to the goalkeeper who was able to parry the spot kick away and out of danger.

Daejeon tried to change things around in the second half with Yoo Seung-Wan coming on for Jin Dae-Sung on 55 minutes before Park Jae-Woo replaced Hyun Woo a five minutes later.

Daejeon’s final substitution saw Gustavo replaced by former Jeonbuk Hyundai striker Kim Dong-Chan but to little effect.

And despite amassing 56% of the possession, Daejeon weren’t able find a reply for Daegu’s two first half goals and thus were condemned to an opening day defeat for the fifth season running.

The result will be disappointing for Daejeon but the Purples did of course suffer defeat on the opening day of the 2014 promotion-winning season.

Line Up

Daejeon’s front three and indeed midfield were somewhat fluid with the likes of Lee Dong-Soo and Kim Sun-Min seemingly having license to create space for the front men.

Gustavo found himself in some rather deep positions, perhaps due to a lack of incision from Daejeon’s central midfielders. 

Skipper Kim Byung-Suk seemed to be operating as a central defender when Daejeon were out of possession.

Subs: 

1 Park Ju-Won, 12 Park Jae-Woo, 20 Jang Joon-Young, 27 Kang Yun-Sung, 11 Yoo Seung-Wan, 19 Park Dae-Hoon, 10 Kim Dong-Chan.

Daejeon are back in action this coming Saturday with the Purples taking on Martin Rennie's Seoul E-Land. 

Full match preview available from Thursday.