Daejeon Citizen Vs FC Daegu: Preview

Daejeon Citizen Vs Daegu FC

Hyundai Oilbank K League Challenge Round 1 Saturday 26^th March 2016

After a typically cold and harsh Korean winter the spring is finally upon us and that can mean only one thing; football south of the 38^th parallel is back.

Spring is a rebirth with new shoots of life emerging from the once frozen ground, an awakening from a long slumber and, perhaps most importantly, renewed hope for all.

Photo Credit: DCFC.co.kr

Such is the case for Daejeon Citizen who, after wilting away unceremoniously from the K League Classic, will be aiming to get off to a good start as they look to bloom once again.

The season opener sees the Purples entertain Daegu, the club that suffered relegation with Daejeon back in 2013.

Whilst Daejeon had been struggling in the Classic, Daegu have been slowly rebuilding.

Daegu themselves, though, will feel like they have a point to prove having suffered the agony of narrowly missing out on promotion last term.

Thus, Saturday’s fixture should be an enticing

Previous Meetings

The last time these two sides met was at the end of September 2014 when Daegu recorded a 1-0 win at Daegu Stadium with Brazilian forward Johnathan netting the only goal of the game on the 66^th minute.

Only goalkeeper Park Ju-Won remains as part of the current Daejeon first team from the side that played that afternoon.

Daegu’s last trip to Daejeon World Stadium saw an exact reverse of the aforementioned as it was the Purples who came away with the spoils in a narrow win.

Again, the score was 1-0 with a goal scored in the second half by a Brazilian forward.

On this occasion, however, the goal game in the 90^th minute by Daejeon’s tallismatic striker Adriano.

During the 2014 season Daejeon had the upper hand over Daegu with two wins and a draw, only suffering defeat on the one occasion.

Team News

Youngster Hwang In-Beom is in line to make his return from injury having come through pre-season unscathed.

The promising midfielder broke his leg last July during the 3-2 defeat to Jeonnam Dragons.

Elsewhere, new forwards Seo Dong-Hyun and Kim Dong-Chan are likely to feature whilst there could be debuts for Brazlian forward Gustavo and Romanian central defender Bozga.

Meanwhile, there are still question marks of Alvaro Silva’s future at the club.

Should the Spanish-born Filipino international defender be omitted from the Daejeon match day squad then it could signal that the end is near for the former Malaga and Xerez man.

Kim Byung-Suk will captain the side.