Football never stops. The World Cup has just finished but a full program of K-League returns this weekend after the summer break. Much has happened since May 9 when the 15 teams were last in action not least the fact that the national team reached the second round in South Africa for the first time ever in a World Cup held overseas. There is always a ‘World Cup effect’ to be felt domestically after the quadrennial competition comes to an end. The beautiful game has been unavoidable for the past few weeks and the success of the national team will give a boost to attendances around the country. How much and for how long, well, those are the questions currently being asked by a number of journalists. As always, we will just have to wait and see. Unfortunately for local fans, many of the stars who shone in South Africa are already back in Europe and not too many K-Leaguers who took the pitch in the Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg will be in action in Gwangju, Ulsan and Incheon over the coming weeks. The ones that did return may have their ranks thinned further as the Taeguk Warriors’ good performances on the global stage caught the eye of European clubs. Defender Cho Yong-hyong has already been linked with a move to English Premier League team Aston Villa and with the European transfer season about to reach full throttle in the next few weeks, more rumors, reports, links and even moves are sure to happen. Other World Cup related K-League action is the fact that a number of teams have had their coach linked to the vacant national team position after Huh Jung-moo stepped down on July 2. There have still been a couple of coaching changes already. The biggest story is that of Cha Bum-kun. South Korea’s 1998 World Cup boss left Suwon Bluewings on June 6 after six years in charge of the two time Asian champion. The first part of the season was a terrible one for the club’s many fans who are accustomed to tasting, or at least getting a whiff of it. After eight defeats in eleven games, Suwon is bottom of the standings. His replacement is an interesting one. Suwon is a team accustomed to big name players and coaches but the club appointed Yoon Sung-hyo. The former Suwon player and assistant coach has enjoyed some success coaching Soongsil University but will find life at the Big Bird a little different. In years to come, the club’s appointment will either be seen as a stroke of genius or symbolic of a lack of ambition. His first K-League match comes against fellow strugglers Daegu FC on Sunday. Incheon United is also in the midst of change. Serbian boss Ilja Petkovic quit in June as his wife was reportedly ill and they wanted to return home. Soon after though, reports came through that Serbia’s 2006 World Cup coach seemingly had his geography a little confused as he ended up in Qatar, a land renowned for lucrative coaching contracts, to take over Al Ahli. Assistant manager Kim Bong-kil will take charge of the team until the end of the season. Ulsan Horangi starts the second part of the season in top spot and face third-placed Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the biggest game of the weekend. Ulsan boss Kim Ho-gon has shown tentative interest in the vacant national team coaching job while his Seongnam counterpart Shin Tae-yong has ruled himself out of the running. By the time the two meet, the decision will be made and there could be a part of Kim hoping that he will not be sat on the UIsan bench on Sunday. The Tigers may be in first place but it is tight at the top with just three points separating first and fifth and six between the leaders and Busan in eighth. Jeju United is a surprise second with Seongnam ,Seoul and Gyeongnam all close behind. There is still more than half of the season to go however and much football to be played. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

You can’t do much better than 100 percent. South Korea’s quartet of teams that started the 2010 Asian Champions League back in February have all survived the first round intact. China have lost at least three of theirs and it could be all four while Japan will see at least one and probably two fall by the wayside. But in the Land of the Morning Calm, it has been a comfortable, stress-free progression. Pohang Steelers, Suwon Bluewings, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Jeonbuk Motors are all through to the round of sixteen having played just five of the six group games. It is an impressive achievement to see all four progress unscathed but actually, it could have been better. The top two teams from each of the eight groups progress to the knockout stage but not all are equal. Finishing in first place ensures that the one-off game in the next round is played at home. Finishing second means a journey elsewhere. Seongnam is the best-placed and is already certain of a home tie. The Yellows can sit back and see who will finish first or second in Group G. At the moment, that is Suwon Bluewings. It remains to be seen if either team will welcome meeting such a familiar foe on the continental stage. The local media certainly will. Suwon’s players are kicking themselves that they are not currently occupying top spot instead of Gamba Osaka. In last week’s match in Japan, Suwon was level at 1-1 with seconds remaining until the defenders somehow let Gamba’s 17 year-old striker Takashi Usami score the decisive goal. The 2-1 win puts the J-League team in pole position. "I thought we were heading home with one point in our hand,” lamented Suwon coach Cha Bum-keun who is lamenting often these days. “But our players seemed to have lost their concentration in the last part of the game. We gave up their first goal so easily and so soon after our first goal, and that hurt us. We want to play at home in the round of 16 but … that possibility seems to have become smaller.” Suwon is a team that has been struggling of late with Asia being the only bright spot of what is becoming another dismal season at home. Three successive defeats in the K-League, including a painful 3-0 loss at the home of bitter rivals FC Seoul and a 2-1 defeat at home to Seongnam, preceded the Osaka disappointmen and then one followed. Unless the Japanese lose in China next week and Suwon defeat Singapore Armed Forces, Suwon will be making the short trip across Gyeonggi Province. Jeonbuk Motors is another team that is likely to finish second after conceding a last-minute goal to a Japanese team. Kashima Antlers won 2-1 in Jeonju in March and the K-League champions have been playing catch-up ever since. Both are through to the last 16 but if Jeonbuk, who won the competition in 2006, want to play at home in the next round, it has to win at the home of the Japanese champion. “We want to avenge the defeat in Kashima,” said Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee after the match and added. “I know that is going to be a difficult away game but we will use the best of what we have to get a victory. I have plans for that.” If Jeonbuk don’t manage to get the result in Ibaraki next week then a long trip to South Australia to take on Adelaide United is on the cards. But if things go differently, a game against Pohang Steelers and a Jeolla and Gyeongsang Province match-up is a distinct possibility. All four Korean teams playing each other in the round of sixteen would be something to see. Copyright: Soccerphile.com & John Duerden Tags World Cup Pens World Cup football

The South Korean season ended just as winter started. The weekend of the championship play-off final second leg dawned with temperatures in some parts of the peninsula approaching 20 below. The cities of Suwon and Seoul were not far behind. As the snow fell in the second half of the second leg of he championship decider between Suwon Samsung Bluewings and FC Seoul on Sunday afternoon, few of the 41,000 fans present noticed –some were bare-chested and many short-sleeved. The atmosphere was red-hot and the action on the pitch riveting as Suwon won 2-1 to take the final 3-2 on aggregate and the trophy for a fourth time. As the final whistle blew, the Seoul stars sank to their knees, Suwon’s hugged as if their lives depended on it and the man in charge of the PA pressed the button that piped out the inevitable opening strains of ‘we are the champions’. It was a worthy win for Suwon, a team that spent the majority of the season in first place. Seoul have a talented and youthful team but don’t yet have Suwon’s savvy or swagger. That will come as the likes of Ki Sung-yung, Lee Chung-yung and Lee Sung-ryeol will get better, though a move to Europe is only a matter of time. Suwon have been there and seen it but even among the club’s passionate fans, few would have experienced an atmosphere like the one conjured on a Sunday when the north, east and west sides were blue and the south red. “I told the players that they are the real champions,” a jubilant Cha Bum-keun told reporters after the match. “We struggled during the middle part of the season but because of the players, we came thrugh it to win the K-League as well as the League Cup. They have played hard all season and have won 25 games in all competitions and have scored lots of goals. I told them not to forget all they have done this season.” They are not likely to forget the win or the fight they were given by their bitter rivals. Like the first leg in Seoul four days previously, there was little to choose between the two. Edu, the bearded and talented Brazilian, shot the Bluewings into the lead after just 11 minutes. It has been a good season for the affable attacker and his shot from the edge of the area was always destined for the bottom corner. Seoul equalized just 14 minutes later. Lee Chung-yung went to ground a little too easily under the challenge of international colleague Lee Woon-jae. The German referee pointed to the spot and Jung Jo-gook, known as the patriot, made it look easy. The game was balanced on a knife-edge. The two finished the regular season occupying the top two spots in the league standings, had defeated the other once each and were exactly level in the final. There was a sense that one more goal would win it and so it proved. For some reason Kim Chi-gon lunged into a tackle deep inside the penalty area, Edu was quite happy to fall over Kim’s leg to win a penalty. Song Chong-guk may not be the star that he was in 2002 when he was named by many as South Korea’s best player of the World Cup but he was the toast of Suwon on Sunday night. His penalty was initially saved by Kim Ho-jun but Song reacted first to the loose ball to score what proved to be the winner. As Seoul tried its best to restore parity, tempers between the two rival teams rose as the sands of second half time fell along with the snow. “I would like to congratulate Suwon but after watching both games, we should have won. I am sorry for the club and the fans. If we had won, our young players would have gained lots of confidence,” Seoul boss Senol Gunes said after the match. “In the first game, we lacked in the physical department but in the second leg our passing was off. We got some chances in the second half but weren’t able to finish. The players tried their best and fought well. It was great to see so many Seoul fans in the stadium on a very cold day." Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

The regular season of the K-League has come to an end; now six teams are standing and dusting themselves down in preparation for the championship play-off series. Despite a mid-season dip that threatened to go the way of Seoul’s KOSPI index and head into a plunge, Suwon Samsung Bluewings bounced back to finish in first – just. The Gyeonggi giants took top spot ahead of FC Seoul by virtue of a slightly superior goal difference. The reward for laying claim to the top spots is that the lucky recipients get to watch the other quartet quarrel until one is left. The smart money is that Seongnam will emerge from the dust but anything could happen. The yellows finished in third and host barely-squeezed-into-sixth Jeonbuk. The match-up between fourth and fifth is an all-southeastern affair between Ulsan and Pohang. Winning the first match is just one step. The prize for the two victors is a battle with each other. The winner of that game will head to capital for a one-off match with FC Seoul. The winner of that takes on Suwon in a two-legged final with the K-League title as a prize. It is simpler than it sounds but the process getting to this point was not easy. Going into the final round of games on Sunday, there were a host of issues that had to be settled. Suwon traveled to Incheon. Both teams needed to win –Suwon to ensure first place and Incheon to stay in sixth. Thousands of Suwon fans also made the short journey west and were rewarded as their heroes took control of the game by scoring three very good goals. The first a real beauty courtesy of Baek Ji-hoon. Incheon pulled one back with a late penalty but the eventual result was never in doubt. The Suwon players celebrated first place with their fans while Incheon’s supporters quietly left their stadium for the last time this year. “We started this season so well but had injuries and then had a bad run,” smiled Suwon coach Cha Bum-keun after the match. “As a coach, this is the most difficult time but it was good experience for the other players. “I think that the team which finishes first is the real champion,” he added. Suwon had to win as Seoul was waiting to pounce and take top spot if there were any slip-ups. The capital club slipped up itself and lost the initiative in the race for the summit last weekend with a 2-0 defeat at Busan. On the subsequent trip to the southeast, Seoul performed better and was two goals ahead by half-time. Pohang hit back in the dying minutes but it was too little too late. Despite finishing second, Seoul coach Senol Gunes proclaimed that he was happy with the season. “All our players have given everything over the last 26 games. First of all we will give them a vacation and then continue the hard work. We will not make too many changes,” Gunes said. Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma spent virtually the whole season in the top two until the final week. The team simply stopped scoring though managed a 1-0 win at Daegu FC. Even that was slightly disappointing as Daegu may be a city famous for juicy apples and dainty dames but the team is notorious for its leaky backline. The seven-time champion will host Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the play-off. Of all the six teams remaining, Jeonbuk is the happiest to be there. The Jeonju team started the season poorly and spent much of the first half scrambling to stay to climb off the bottom. A great run in the second half of the campaign, culminating in an exciting 3-1 win over Gyeongnam, ensures that the 2008 season is not over in Jeolla Province With Pohang and Ulsan also ready to continue, there is still a great deal of football still left to be played. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

With winter on the horizon, the big games are coming thick and fast as the end of the regular K-League season also comes into view. It is a time when some teams are going all out in an attempt to grab what is on offer while others are more concerned with protecting what they have. For the first time since April 2007, FC Seoul is the team with the most. The capital club moved to the top of the standings on Sunday with a narrow 1-0 win over previous leaders Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. Seoul, playing with one striker for the first time all season in the first half were nervous and Seongnam were sloppy, slow and disjointed. It wasn’t pretty but the fans who braved a chilly autumn afternoon and 87 minutes of fairly turgid football were rewarded with a moment of beauty. Substitute striker Lee Sang-hyub connected to a deep Lee Chung-young cross inside the area to lash a left-footed volley into the back of the Seongnam net. It was Seoul’s first victory over Seongnam for three seasons and more importantly, it has made the team start to believe that it could actually win the league championship. Fans across the Land of the Morning Calm will be tuned into their televisions on Wednesday to see if Seoul has finally managed to combine mental mettle with fancy footwork. The men in black and red make the short journey south to Suwon - the home of their fiercest rivals and closest challengers Suwon Samsung Bluewings. The two teams lie level on 48 points and only the fact that Seoul has scored one more goal puts them in pole position. The hosts are rubbing their hands in anticipation at upsetting the Seoul bandwagon once again. Early in 2007, Seoul was riding high at the top of the table when Suwon arrived to win and send Seoul sliding down the table with a run of seven matches without a win. This season Seoul again started well and was once again defeated at home by the men in blue. The reaction in the capital was different in 2008 however as that defeat signalled the start of an impressive unbeaten run that has now stretched to an impressive 18 matches. “Playing Seoul at home is a good chance for us to recover our first place in the league,” Suwon boss Cha Bum-keun told reporters. Since an 11-match winning streak sent Suwon nine points clear in June, the Bluewings have stuttered a little. Those recent wobbles will be forgotten and forgiven if Suwon can not only defeat Seoul but also take the top spot with two matches of the regular season remaining. The stakes could be a little higher, but not much, especially as Seongnam is just a point behind in third place and eager to bounce back from its defeat at the weekend. “It’s not over yet,” said a smiling Senol Gunes after the Seongnam win which provoked wild scenes of jubilation at Sangam Stadium in the north-west of the city. “Defeating Suwon on Wednesday is a bigger target.” Since arriving in Korea, Gunes has only won two out of nine meetings with the Bluewings. “There are still three games to go, starting with Suwon. If we win all three then we will finish in first place. The win against Seongnam is for our fans and through this kind of result we aim to attract more fans to the stadium next season.” For now however, the focus is firmly on the end of this season. After Wednesday, there are just two games of the regular season remaining before the six-team play-off series begins. Finishing in the top two places in the K-League not only makes those play-offs significantly less taxing, it also grants access to the 2009 Asian Champions League. As the temperatures around the southern half of the peninsula start finally to fall, the race for the K-League is getting hotter by the day. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

“Seongnam are the second strongest team in the league but we are the strongest,” said Pohang Steelers boss Sergio Farias after his team defeated the K-League leaders 2-1 last Saturday. The Brazilian is exaggerating his team’s abilities but at the moment in Korea, just as the weather finally settles into seasonable temperatures, the football scene has gone haywire. How else can you explain Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors’ 5-2 thrashing of Suwon Samsung Bluewings in the once-feared Big Bird Stadium? Earlier in the season, Suwon couldn’t stop winning and the Motors couldn’t start. Now the Jeonju club collected three successive wins; Suwon have lost five of their last seven. For the Jeonju-based team, the fried egg on the bi-bim-bap was the five star showing in Suwon, after the meeting between the two earlier in the season had been a bad-tempered one. In May, the Gyeonngi team went to Jeonju to win 2-1 with the last kick of the game. By that 94th minute, emotions were running high after Jeonbuk striker Cho Jae-jin scored and then, in the view of the Suwon fans, celebrated provocatively in front of the massed blue ranks. Cho told them he was only following what Suwon’s Seo Dong-hyun had done earlier in the game. Suwon fans told him that they would ‘see him at the Big Bird’. They came, they saw but Cho conquered. The much-maligned male model was roundly booed and jeered on his return to Gyeonggi but he quickly made the catcalls stick in blue craws. Cho put Jeonbuk ahead and although Suwon soon equalized, four goals from the men in green in ten second half minutes stunned the home fans and kept the visitors’ hopes of a place in the top six and entry to the championship play-off series alive. It was also the most goals that Suwon goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae has ever conceded in a single match. “I expected it,” smiled Cho after the game, not referring to the 5-2 scoreline of course but the reception from the home fans. “It didn’t bother me. I was just focused on the game. In fact, it motivated me to do better.” The feeling of defeat is becoming increasingly familiar for Blues boss Cha Bum-keun. “Our condition is poor,” said the legend of Korean soccer. “We have many injuries but most importantly because of results, the atmosphere around the team is bad.” It certainly is. A comprehensive 3-1 defeat at Jeju United the week previously and a 5-2 thrashing at home at the hands of another mid-table team leaves Suwon’s season in danger of meltdown. It is a big test for coach Cha, one known for buying good players but his ability to build a team is not quite so respected. Runs like the current one happen and are never easy for a coach to break. The defeat sent Suwon, so long the leaders, down into third place and looking over a shoulder at the approaching Ulsan in fourth. It is FC Seoul that are the ones to watch. The capital club are unbeaten for 15 league matches and brushed aside Chunnam Dragons 3-0 on Sunday to move above Suwon but below Seongnam. It wasn’t the best of performances for the hosts but confidence is coursing through the veins of the players and with Dejan Damjanovic in great form in attack, Seoul are looking good at a good time. With Ulsan and Pohang looking fairly safe in fourth and fifth, a number of clubs are chasing the sixth and final play-off spot with all the fervour of a tired Seoul salaryman eyeing a free subway seat in the evening rush hour. The Uniteds of Jeju and Incheon are in there fighting along with Gyeongnam FC, a resurgent Jeonbuk and an unpredictable Daegu. The play-off system has its critics but there is no denying that at this stage of the season, it provides a fascinating sideshow to the increasingly fierce race at the top. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

As the K-League reaches the halfway stage, there is one team that looks like 100% champions, one that is setting the bar higher every week. It is a statistic that improves by the week but has become so familiar that it almost ceases to impress. Suwon Samsung Bluewings have won the last eleven league matches. It is a new record and at the moment, it is hard to see when it is going to end. “The Blue winning machine’” it has been called by some writers who find that match reports when watching Suwon almost write themselves. March 16 was the last and only time in 2008 when the Bluewings didn’t taste victory - a 2-2 draw at perennial title rivals Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. Seongnam is still in second but lagging a massive nine points behind. FC Seoul is in third. But at the moment, it is all about the boys from the Big Bird Stadium just to the south of Seoul. Suwon is unstoppable. The latest win was a 2-0 triumph at home to Incheon United. “It was a tough match for us,” said coach Cha Bum-keun. “With the injuries we have, some players were playing out of position and I am proud that they came through and we won.” “This was a game in which we really needed Mato,” added the boss. Mato is Mato Neretjlak, currently the best central defender in the K-League and one of the best in Asia. If he was Korean then the final stage of qualification for the 2010 World Cup would look much easier but the 29 year-old is a former Croatian international and the man responsible for organizing the Suwon backline along with Korea’s 2002 and 2006 World Cup goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae. ‘We have a good team and are playing well,” Neretljak told me after the match. “I am enjoying my football here and it is a good place to play.” Understandable sentiments. As well as a solid defence, there is an embarrassment of riches in midfield and attack. Lining up in the center are the likes of Cho Won-hee, Baek Ji-hoon and Lee Kwan-woo. Even North Korean midfield lynchpin An Yong-hak barely gets a game. It is in attack though where the team looks more dangerous than last season when it finished second. Seo Dong-hyun and Shin Young-rok are young strikers who have been terrorizing defenses up and down the Land of the Morning Calm. The two haven’t yet managed to break into the national team but with the lack of firepower at international level recently, it should only be a matter of time. Usually, it would also only be a matter of time before the championship trophy was leaving Pohang and heading northwest to Suwon but in the present system, the top six teams will enter the championship play-off series. Finishing first gives an automatic place in the final but as Seongnam found out last year, it guarantees nothing. With the league at the halfway stage, the top three seem to be pulling away from the chasing pack and if the trend continues then much attention will be on the teams fighting to fill positions four to six. Daejeon Citizen made a late and dramatic run to squeeze in at the last minute last season and there are a number of teams that could do the same in 2008. Usual suspects Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I and Pohang Steelers won’t be far away and less regular play-off participants Incheon United, Daegu FC and Gyeongnam are all hovering around the cut-off point. All it needs it a purple patch to push them into the top six spot and a tilt at the title. The contenders all know however that, like the ultimate boss in a computer combat game, Suwon will be waiting and ready to provide the toughest of tests. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

After going for almost 700 minutes of K-League football without scoring, FC Seoul’s coach Senol Gunes would have tried anything to break the drought. It is unknown however if it was the Turk who booked the half-time entertainment for the game against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on May 12.