Preview: Daejeon Citizen vs Seoul E-Land

This week will Seoul E-Land will make the 140km trip down to Daejeon in round three of the K League 2 to face a Daejeon Citizen side who has failed to get off the mark yet this year. Seoul E-Land will hope to continue their form and take all three points back to Seoul with them after last week saw the first points put on the board for Seoul E-Land in their 2018 campaign. An enthusiastic and hopeful crowd watched a respectable 2-2-draw against last year's playoff finalists, Busan IPark. Daejeon however, will have to start performing, if they are to save themselves another embarrassing year in the second division but they may fancy their chances against last season fellow strugglers, E-Land, who finished 2017 in 8th place, two places off the bottom.
(image via facebook.com/SeoulEland)

Last Time Out

Seoul E-Land faced a tough Busan side on Sunday, in what ended as a very interesting and entertaining game. Busan made it 1-0 in the first half, with a header from Brazilian Alemão. The game saw more periodic dominance between the two sides, opposed to the clichéd ‘game of two halves’ we normally hear in a high scoring game. The Seoul outfit saw a positive run of play before the Busan goal, which unfortunately changed the dynamic of the match in the away team's favour.

The second half however, saw a completely different E-Land side, they showed confidence and efficiency on the ball, creative long balls that were finding their destination with an increase in terms of chances on goal. The Jamsil faithful were awarded early in the second half when Cho Chan-Ho, with probably the easiest goal he will score all season, made it 1-1 only a couple of yards out. Seoul, with now newfound determination, continued to press and take the game to Busan. Six minutes later, saw a fantastic strike from new striker, Diego Bielkiewicz to put the side ahead for the first time.

Busan managed to get recomposed and finally get the ball off E-Land later into the second half. They pulled one back to make it level in the 72nd minute from Kim Chi-woo. The last ten minutes saw pretty end-to-end stuff from both sides and any team could have taken the spoils. The game ended 2-2, which was fair for how the two teams performed. E-Land will hope to take this momentum and use it against Daejeon to register their first win of the K League 2 season.

Daejeon did not fare so well in their encounter away to Ansan Greeners. The five-goal thriller saw an injury time goal from Jang Hyuk-Jin to give Ansan all three points. A late goal in a game will always make the other team look unlucky, but it has to be noted that Ansan Greeners were reduced to nine men in the first half. Furthermore, in the two goals that Daejeon did score, one was from the penalty spot, and the other was an own goal. This was the second game in a row that Daejeon lost the game in the final few minutes. The opening weekend saw the Purples concede in the 85th minute against Bucheon 1995, denying them of a draw. Daejeon will hope for luck to change on Sunday against E-Land and finally get some points registered on to the table.

Recap here

Team News

Seoul E-Land made three changes last week, as a fall out from their loss at Suwon two weeks prior. A double change at the back saw Kim Jae-hyeon and Gam Han-sol, replaced by Jeon Min-gwang and Kim Tae-eun respectively. We also saw a change in the middle of the park as Choi Chi-won replaced Choi Han-sol. E-Land looked a lot more willing to push the ball forward and make strives against Busan last week. They made a lot more positive plays to get the ball into a goal scoring opportunity.

The big change, unfortunately, this week for the leopards will most probably be one of their key players, Ko Cha-won, who was stretchered off the pitch after a collision in the first half on Sunday. E-Land will also not be able to make the debut of Daniel Febles. I managed to speak to him this week and he states that he is still not 100% physically fit. Febles added that he is itching to get on the pitch and make an impact for the team, so we are looking forward to what we will see when he makes it into the lineup.

Our Daejeon Citizen columnist Paul Neat also offered his insights on the home side's team news below:

After last week's dismal result which saw a Daejeon Citizen side fail to beat the nine men of Ansan Greeners, manager Ko Jong-soo may be looking to shake things up. With a squad of over 50 players to choose from, there are certainly plenty of options for the former Suwon Bluewing to call upon for Sunday's game against Seoul E-Land.  The likes of Jung Min-woo and Park Dae-hoon have had to make do with a places on the bench but may be called upon to help ease Daejeon's worrying lack of creativity. Meanwhile, Filip Hlohovsky, came off the bench and laid on an assist against Ansan last week and so could be an option on the left flank but forward Kim Chan-hee appears to be still returning to fitness and is expected to be a doubt for Sunday's game.
- Paul Neat

The Adversary 

The 2018 season seems to have begun in a very similar fashion to how the entire of 2017 played out for Daejeon Citizen. Last year Citizen were devoid of leadership and mental toughness, conceding a high number of goals in the last five minutes of halves. This season already Citizen have dropped points because they haven't been able to see games out. In the opening game of the season against Bucheon the Purples had the better of the first half and, despite going behind early on, showed determination to get back into the game - which they did. But, with just five minutes to go, Bucheon found a late winner. It was a similar story against Ansan Greeners, despite playing against nine men for the entire second half. A goal in the 91st minute condemned Citizen to their second defeat on the spin. Confidence must be low but playing against a side who also struggled last year, Citizen simply have to go for it and try to win the game.
- Paul Neat

Daejeon Citizen line up vs Ansan Greeners 11th March 2017

In terms of shape, expect Citizen lined up in a 4-1-4-1 last weekend but being at home Ko Jongsoo may go back to the 4-2-3-1 formation which was utlisied against Bucheon on the opening day. If Daejeon do go for route one like they have been doing then it won't take long for E-Land to suss them out and double up on either Park Inhyeok or Pedro up front. Judging from what Daejeon have offered up thus far, the midfield will often be bypassed and most of the supply into the forwards will be from long balls.

Prediction

The two teams were in similarly poor form last season, and both ended in the bottom half of the table last year. I believe Seoul E-Land is trying to make a real impact in this year’s campaign, with their latest performance giving such evidence. Daejeon, however, has looked unorganized and uninspiring. If the Leopards turn up to this encounter and play like they did against Busan, this will be a comfortable away win. I believe this game is solely down to which E-Land team does turn up on Sunday, but I foresee an away win.


Daejeon Citizen 1-3 Seoul E-Land