Preview: Asan Mugunghwa vs Seoul E-Land

Saturday evening in the K League 2 sees Asan Mugunghwa will invite Seoul E-Land to the Yi Sun-sin stadium. The league has really started to open up as of late, with anyone being able to beat anyone, and a win for either team could prove prolific. An Asan win will give the team stability in 2nd position, where an E-Land victory, could give their supporters something to get excited about going into the World Cup break and a real chance of climbing the table and into a playoff position in the latter half of the campaign.
(image via K League)

Last Time Out

Asan were the first of the two teams to play last weekend, making the journey north to take on Suwon FC for the Saturday evening kick-off. The game ended in two goals from both halves for the military club. A goal in the first half from Kim Jong-gook in the 43rd minute and a second only three minutes after the tie resumed with Han Eui-gwon putting the game to bed for the traveling team.

The second goal was a fantastic team effort, which saw the ball passed between four different players before being sent across goal, for an easy tap into the net. It was a textbook counter-attacking goal.

The game wasn’t without controversy, however, with Asan defender Lee Chang-yong shown a second yellow in the 72nd minute and was given his marching orders. Despite being down to ten men, Asan controlled the game, and it was an easy three points for the team.

Video of Asan Mugunghwa's second goal can be found here

Their next game, a midweek clash, saw a real runaway victory for Asan, but it wasn't the best of starts for the side. Seongnam scored early, with a goal in the first three minutes, from Kim Jeong-hyun, putting Seongnam ahead. Asan equalized seven minutes before the break, Jo Seong-joon the scorer.

It was a really good showing from Asan in the second half, and they really took Seongnam to the cleaners, something uncommon this season. Han Eui-gwon got a brace in the 47th and 72nd minute, and Ko Mu-yeol scoring in-between in the 53rd minute. Seongnam managed to pull one back in the game, Kim Jeong-hyun scoring his second.

Asan showed their quality, making it known to the rest of the league, that they are serious about finishing as high as possible this year. Not many teams, if any, can say this year that they annihilated a team like Seongnam, and Asan will have good momentum going into the Seoul E-Land game

Highlights of the fixture can be found here

The Sunday evening game had Seoul E-Land, travel to Ansan Greeners, hoping to replicate the result carved out in Jamsil a month prior against the same side. Seoul went into the fixture with a point to prove, after being beaten 2-0 by FC Anyang in the last round. Although E-Land was defeated by two goals from Anyang, they challenged the game from start to finish, and the scoreline did not reflect their performance.

With that being said, they were pretty late off the block when the game kicked off against Ansan, and the home side was the better side for the first 25 minutes of the match. Ansan came close a number of times, especially bouncing the ball off the crossbar early on in the clash. However, E-Land took advantage of the green wolve's failures to put the ball in the next, and with outstanding control from Diego Bielkiewicz, scored in the 40th minute, 1-0 Seoul E-Land.

Seoul grew from strength to strength in the second half and bombarded Ansan with attack after attack. Kim Kwang-young for E-Land had to make a number of saves, as the Greeners attempted to salvage something from the game. However, a perfectly worked counter-attack from E-Land, saw Cho Jae-wan slot home the ball in the 89th minute, ending all hope of an Ansan comeback. The game ended 2-0, and a hard-earned three points for the Leopards.

Highlight's of Seoul E-Land's away win to Ansan Greeners can be found here

Previous Meetings

In the last encounter, things looked a lot different for the two sides, Asan were going into the game, already looking for their fifth win of the campaign, where E-Land were only looking for their second. Asan hit great form when the two sides met in April and were sitting in 4th position in the league. Seoul started the fixture still way down the league and had only seven points to their name. A wet and cold evening in Jamsil saw a stalemate between the two sides. The matchup had no real talking points, with the two sides being handed three cautions apiece.

The two teams have a lot more to play for this time around now, E-Land have been a lot more prolific in front of goal, and are starting to become a thorn in a lot of the teams' sides. Asan will try to infiltrate E-Land’s defense and will learn from their errors from when the two sides clashed back in spring. Asan have climbed two spots since the last game and will wish to keep their momentum running.

Team News

Seoul E-Land started the game on Sunday with their standard 4-3-3 position, with Bielkiewicz and Choi Oh-back upfront. They welcome Cha Jae-wan in the attack, with support from Kim Jae-woong, as a holding midfielder, his second start for the side.

Cha Jae-wan is becoming a great prospect for the capital club, at 22 years of age, the Korean U23 player is only two goals behind Gwangju’s Na Sang-ho in the race for the league’s golden boot.

Seoul has struck a good partnership with Ahn Ji-ho and Kim Jae-hyeon as of late as the two center backs supporting Kim Kwang-young in goal. Ahn Ji-ho was suspended in the last game against Anyang, and his lack of presence cost the side dearly.

The starting 11 for Seoul E-Land, when they took on Ansan Greeners in the K League 2 round of 14, last Sunday evening.
(Photo Credit: www.facebook.com/SeoulEland) 

Left-back Kim Tae-eun and right back Jeon Ming-wang have been very successful on the flanks as well, pushing the ball forward for the three front men. In Chang-soo’s side have started to find a great shape, without a lot of rotation in the side.

Unfortunately for E-Land, Choi Han-sol picked up his third booking of the season against Ansan, and will not be involved in Saturday’s game. Choi Han-sol has been dominant for the side as of late and was on the bench in the last round, regardless of coming on late, the midfielder still managed to get himself into the book. Luckily for E-Land though, that will be the only suspension for the side and will still have a strong line up when they travel on Saturday.

The Adversary

Asan Mugunghwa are having a great season so far, with a record of seven wins, three draws, and four losses. The side have really come alight, with their defensive tactics, and are sitting tied at the top with Busan Ipark, with fewest goals conceded. A total team influenced side, Asan can boast to have nine different players on the score sheet this season. Their top scorer is Han Eui-gwon, with six goals in 14 appearances. A heavy influence for the Asan outfit, Eui-gwon has only missed one game this season due to suspension.

It will be interesting to see how attacking Asan will be when they play E-Land on the weekend, as the team are very defensive in their play, maybe bringing a side who are lower down the table to their ground will push them to play out more from the back and attempt to get a couple more names on the score sheet.

Prediction

The game will be the last K League 2 fixture for both sides, for almost three weeks, as the FIFA 2018 World Cup begins, and all focuses lie on the Korean national team. With that being said, neither team will want to go into that break after losing, giving them three weeks to think about their mistakes. The two sides have been in great form, E-Land's slip-ups came a lot earlier on in the season and their style of play recently deserves more than being stuck eighth in the table.

Asan however, are high flyers this year and will wish to continue their hard efforts in staying as close to Seongnam as possible. Hopefully, we see a lot more of an interesting and entertaining game, than what we saw, when the last time the two teams played. Their win against the league leaders will give them real hope for catching up to them, and they would hate to drop points to E-Land on the weekend.

I hope for goals, and a good outing from E-Land on Saturday. With that being said, I also hope for a good game, which causes most fans to count down the days until the K League 2 kicks back off again.

Predicted Score: Asan Mugunghwa 2-2 Seoul E-Land