Preview: Pohang Steelers vs Daegu FC

Producing successful performances and commitments to Daegu FC in 2017, Andre Gaspar is on the starting line to take a first step into K League 1 as a full time manager. This weekend, Daegu FC are set to travel to Pohang for 2018 K League 1 opening match. Can they make a good start against the Steelers?
(image via Daegu FC Facebook)

Last Time out

The last friendly match Daegu played was against FC Anyang and ended in a 1-1 draw with a goal from Ko Seung-bum.

Previous Meetings

(image via Daegu FC Facebook)

28th Oct 2017, Pohang 1 – 2 Daegu

Ranked in eighth place, Daegu made the journey to the east coast of Korea to face off against Pohang. At the time, Daegu needed three points to secure their spot in next year’s K League 1. Whilst Pohang, ranked 7th, were less motivated and discouraged as they were stuck in the bottom six for the second year in a row.

The hosts Pohang had a mix of players from the regular with youngsters whilst Daegu had their best players available. The first half was uneventful and ended in a goalless draw. However, the second half went differently to the first half. At 50 mins, Junior eventually netted from close range inside the penalty area with some sneaky movement to break the offside line. In the blink of an eye, Evandro made it 2-0 with good header at a point blank range. After that, Pohang were in a hurry and tried to attack fiercely with Yang Dong-hyun, Lee Kwang-hyuck substituted in. Their consistent efforts eventually paid off and Lulinha scored a goal to keep their hopes of a win alive, but it wasn’t to be because of the astonishing performances from Korea International Goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo. Until the final whistle was blown, the visitor didn’t allow any more goals and managed to succeed in the pursuit of survival in the K League 1, irrespective of any results from other teams or games they still had to play.

Other Meetings

15th April, Pohang 2 – 1 Daegu
(Pohang: Yang Dong-hyun, Lulinha, Daegu: Evandro)
19th July, Daegu 3 – 0 Pohang
(Daegu: Cesinha, Kim Jin-hyuk, Evandro)
10th Sep, Daegu 2 – 1 Pohang
(Daegu: Junior 2 goals, Pohang: Wanderson)
28th Oct, Pohang 1 – 2 Daegu
(Pohang: Lulinha, Daegu: Junior, Evandro)

Team News

After Daegu's pre-season friendly against FC Anyang a few interviews regarding Daegu’s future were released in the media with manager Andre admitting that he noticed several drawbacks throughout the match. He added that new Brazilians Jean and Caion need to adapt themselves to Korean football style where physical contacts and a lot of movements are required with their own skills. Also, it is important that Daegu can quickly maximize the team work to settle down in K League 1. He also mentioned that Daegu had a significantly hard time in getting united as a team for the first robin round tournament.

Meanwhile he didn’t say about Cesinha at all, but many fans are worried about how early he will get match fit from injury as he has barely been seen on the friendly matches. So for now, it seems that Cesinha is not available for the opening match and this can be extended for a couple of games. Therefore, for the time being, Jung Seon-ho and Hwang Soon-min will replace the holes to link the connection to the attackers.

The Adversary

Daegu absolutely need to be wary of local boy, Kim Seung-dae, capable of breaking the defensive line with very sneaky movement. Last year, he wasn’t as threatening as he was before after joining the Steelers in the summer transfer window. For this season, he would feel much more responsible in creating more changes and scoring as Yang Dong-hyun, Sim Dong-woon, and Lulinha have all left the team. Also, not much is known about Leo Gamalho, the 32-year-old Brazilian centre forward.

Prediction

Both teams will most likely approach each other cautiously and it would take some time for both to get organized as a one team.


Pohang 1-1 Daegu