Pohang Steelers recaptured second place after winning an away match against Incheon United. The frontline striker Zeca (Brazil)’s early game-winning goal continued the cruise.
Pohang won 1-0 in the 19th round away game of ‘Hanawon Q K League 1 2023’ against Incheon at the Incheon Soccer Stadium on the 25th. Pohang regained second place in one day with 34 points (9 wins, 7 draws and 3 losses). Incheon stayed at 20 points (4 wins, 8 draws메이저사이트, 7 losses) and missed the opportunity to jump into the mid-table.
The confrontation between Pohang and Incheon was always tense. Since August 2020, when Incheon coach Cho Seong-hwan took the helm, the two teams’ relative record was Pohang’s 3 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses, a slight advantage until the game that day. There was no game that was so easy that the difference of more than two goals was on May 21 last year (Pohang won 2-0).
A close match was expected on this day as well. This is because both teams were light on the front. Coach Jo was concerned about the physical strength of Chun Seong-hun and Hernandez (Brazil), and Pohang coach Kim Ki-dong was concerned about Jung Jae-hee and Koh Young-joon’s injury. Coach Cho said, “As the weather is getting hotter, I think we will have to use the main strikers only in the second half.” Coach Kim also said, “There are not many resources to make changes, but we have to play the game we want to play as much as possible.”
At the same time as the kickoff, the concerns of the coaches of both teams surfaced. The weight of the front dropped, and at the beginning of the game, they exchanged futile battles. However, Pohang had a proven striker, Jeka.
In the 12th minute of the first half, Zecca connected Kim Seung-dae’s cross to his third goal of the season. Even after scoring, he started to create space through post play, and led the team’s attack with a pass to a colleague penetrating into the center while he fell to the side. Jeka’s pass was the starting point for Wandelson’s shot that went over the goal post in the extra time of the first half and Baek Seong-dong’s shot that hit the goal post in the 4th minute of the second half. Jeka ran the ground all over the place until he was replaced by Park Chan-yong due to a thigh injury in the 23rd minute of the second half.
Incheon, which became desperate, put Hernandez in place of Kim Min-seok in the 40th minute of the first half, and put Gerso in place of Min Kyung-hyun in the halftime to speed up the attack. However, the equalizer was rarely scored. In the 28th and 42nd minutes of the second half, Kwon Jin-jin’s shots from corner kicks were blocked by the post and Pohang Lee Ho-jae’s feet, respectively. In extra time, goalkeeper Kim Dong-heon also participated in the attack on the corner kick, but in the end the goal was not scored.