Recap Pohang vs Suwon & Preview Pohang vs Sangju Sangmu

photo courtesy of www.steelers.co.kr

Finally after three games without a goal Veselinovic ends the goalless streak during the mid-week clash against Suwon Bluewings that's the second three game drought Pohang has had this season the last drought ending with the three goals scored against Incheon. This season Pohang has gone scoreless in twelve matches yet Pohang  has one of the top goal scorers this season in the K League.

Quick recap of the game, the Steelers looked really good on Wednesday but once again plagued by missed opportunities and a goalie's best friend the post. Great shot by Muralha outside the eight-teen gave a long rebound but no one crashing the net. Muralha had another great opportunity to score when he collected a cross inside the eight-teen yard box but his shot lifted clear over the net. Pohang hit the post in this game twice once from a shot inside the box which hit the har post then again from a corner kick which hit the post. Suwon was able to score a header from a free kick, Lee Jung-soo went unmarked and was able to push his header past Kim Jin-young in the thirty-third minute. Minutes into the second half Veselinovic was able to use his strength to steal the ball from the defender then with only him and the goalie he was able to fire a bullet just inside the penalty box then went past Yang Hyung-mo. After that goal the second half came and went with little excitement but the but you could see the team was happy with the result and ready to start a new streak but this one will be a goal scored streak.

Onto Saturday's match, Pohang we get revenge on Sangju Sangmu? Just over a month ago Pohang was host to Sangju and they brought with them a pair of second half goals to win 2-0. That game gave Sangju their second win in a row vs Pohang yet in the last 10 matches Pohang has won 7. Hopefully Pohang can get back to the dominance we once had against Sangju.

I think the mid-week match gave confidence back to a team that was sliding far from the team they could and should be. Yang Dong-hyun was absent for the midweek match but should return to the lineup on Saturday. I was surprised to see the 4-2-3-1 formation during the previous match it's a personal favorite. The formation was widely introduced in the late 90's and early 2000's but it's popularity hadn't grew across the world until 2012. Today you'd be hard to find many teams not implementing this highly successful strategy. It really helps new players on teams because of the flexibility and defined roles each player has. Not to mention the attack power that it brings with it. As was seen during the last match goals are often scored right after half-time when teams are most vulnerable. Then if you look at the match between Pohang and Jeonbuk just last weekend Choi Jin-chuel came out with the 4-1-2-3 formation which is mainly used to when taking a defensive stance so achieving the 0-0 draw played perfect for the game plan and the 1-1 draw just a few days ago wasn't quite what Choi Jin-chuel wanted but he saw his team create more opportunities and played better than they have in weeks. I truly hope he continues to use these formations and only these for the rest of the year. If he does then we may be looking forward to playoffs and perhaps a championship.

Back to the match, with Yang Dong-hyun back (hopefully) he can also end a bit of a dry spell he's having with no goals since the 2 goals he scored against Ulsan. After collecting the win over a month ago against Pohang, Sangju has a reocrd of 2 wins 1 draw and 3 losses scoring 8 and conceding 11. Their last match played in Ulsan started out quiet but ended big with 4 goals being scored in the second half, three of those were scored by Sangju and they were able to get the win with a 2-3 score against an Ulsan team that has been on a skid recently. Pohang comes into this match only 2 points behind seventh place Jeju and 3 behind sixth place Gwanju. With Jeonnam only one point behind Pohang needs to finish this with at least one point to stay the pace with the group a loss here and a win for any of the three could spell disaster for a Pohang squad fighting to get back.

Prediction: ......"My Way, Steelers Way!!".....