FA Cup Preview: Cheonan City FC vs Suwon Bluewings

Suwon Bluewings continue their pursuit of FA Cup glory on Wednesday night when they take on the National League's Cheonnan City FC, at the Cheonnan Football Centre, in the 4th round of the 2018 Korean FA Cup. Suwon will be looking to see off the threat of the 3rd tier team, but as we saw in the last round, big teams can easily fall to their under dog rivals and Cheonnan will go into this match feeling confident that they can produce one of the biggest giant killings in FA Cup history. 

Last Time Out

In the last round, Suwon demolished amateur team Gimpo Citizen FC. First half goals from Jo Ji-hun, Kim Jun-hyung and Kim Jong-woo had the tie practically won by half-time. And further goals from Kim Jun-hyung, scoring his second of the night, Jeon Se-jin and Lim Sang-hyub added the gloss to a professional performance from Suwon and saw them run out comfortable 6-1 winners.

Meanwhile, Cheonan overcame their fellow National League chellengers, Gangneung City FC, by two goals to one. Cheonan opened the scoring in the first half, through an effort by defender Ahn Jae-hun, but were pegged back by Gangneung in the second half, when Lee Dae-hyun scored for the home team. The two were level at full time, forcing extra time, but with the game looking destined to be settled by penalties, Cheonnan's Jeong Hyun-sik scored a 119th minute winner to send Cheonnan through to the next round.

Team News

Much like the last round, Suwon are expected to make sweeping changes to their starting 11. Seo Jung-won will most certainly choose to rest the likes of Yeom Ki-hun, Dejan, Cho Won-hee, Saric, Lee Ki-je and Choi Sung-geun. And again, much like in the third round, Seo will most likely offer chances to Lim Sang-hyub, Kim Jong-woo, Park Hyun-jin, Jo Ji-hun and Park Ki-dong.

Kim Jun-hyung, after his goal scoring efforts in the last round, is in line to be called upon again. The youngster showed a touch of class, driving from midfield, against Gimpo and although his minutes have been limited in the league, the cup may be the perfect time for him to gain more first team experience. The same applies for Jeon Se-jin, who stole the show with a 30 minute cameo against Gimpo. Coming off the bench, the 18 year old, scored one and set one up and was a constant nuisance with his skill and trickery.

The Adversary

Having only been formed in 2007 Cheonnan City FC are yet to win any type of silverware in their short existence, but have been showing signs of improvement over recent years. A 5th placed finish in the National League in 2016 was followed by a 3rd placed finish last season, their best ever season. And the team are on course to at least match that position in 2018, currently sitting 3rd in the table and lying only six points away from top of the table, Gyeongju Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power FC.

Last week, Cheonan even beat top of the table Gyeongju, to narrow the points gap at the top of the National League and having won four of their last six games, Cheonan will enter into this game full of confidence.

Prediction

Cheonan are a step up in class from the Gimpo team that Suwon faced a couple of weeks ago and this game will be a much sterner test for the Bluewings. However, with fresh legs and added experience in the Suwon team it would be foolish to bet against them.

Cheonan City FC 1-3 Suwon Bluewings