League One’s ‘only’ winless team after opening five games, also losing to Jeju
Jeonbuk Hyundai, vowing to revive its franchise, has failed to pick up a win in its first five matches of the 2024 season.
The club lost 0-2 away to Jeju United in the fifth round of the Hana Bank K League 1 2024 on Wednesday at Jeju World Cup Stadium. The bottom-placed Jeonbuk (3 points) failed to “escape the bottom of the table” after going winless (3 draws, 2 losses) in their opening five matches. Jeonbuk has now gone eight matches without a win (five draws and three losses), including all of its 2023-2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) matches.
Playing their third home game of the season, Jeju came out strong in the first half and pushed Jeonbuk hard. After failing to capitalize on a chance in the 15th minute when Ahn Tae-hyun’s right-footed shot from a counterattack was saved by the goalkeeper, Jeju finally got a taste of the goal in the 28th minute when Yeo Hong-kyu headed home a cross from Hayes on the right side of the goal area from a corner kick on the left. It was Yeo’s K League debut goal in a Jeju jersey in February of this year.
Jeonbuk was reduced to a man down in the 32nd minute when overlapping ‘captain’ Kim Jin-soo was sent off for an unsportsmanlike act of kicking Jeju’s Kim Tae-hwan, who had been involved in a scuffle while attempting a cross. In a last-ditch attack, Jeju sank Jeonbuk with a late goal from Jin Sung-wook in stoppage time.
Jeju bounced back from two straight defeats to move up to sixth place (7 points) with a win over Jeonbuk.
At the Gwangju Football Stadium, Incheon United (8 pts) earned their second straight win with a 3-2 victory over Gwangju FC (6 pts) thanks to Gerso’s “theater goal” in second-half stoppage time. Incheon (8 pts, G2) are tied for fifth place with third-placed Ulsan HD (9 pts) and fourth-placed Seoul (8 pts, G4) on eight points, but are behind in terms of points and goal difference.
Incheon looked to have the game in hand after Park Seung-ho scored the opening goal in the 32nd minute and Mugosa added a header four minutes into the second half, but Gwangju’s counterattack was just as frightening. Gabriel equalized in the 21st minute of the second half, followed by Lee Hee-gyun in the 32nd minute to tie the game.
However, Gwangju suffered a setback in the third minute of second-half stoppage time when goalkeeper Kim Kyung-min was sent off for a handball foul outside the 토토사이트 penalty area while trying to stop an Incheon Jerso counterattack. Gwangju, who had exhausted their substitutes, were forced to hand the gloves to field player Ha Seung-woon.
Incheon eventually secured the victory in dramatic fashion in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time when Ha Seung-woon failed to clear a poorly deflected ball in front of the goal area and the bouncing ball found the face of a charging Gerso for the game-winner.
At Chuncheon Songam Sports Town, Gangwon FC (6 points) defeated Daegu FC (4 points) 3-0 behind a multi-goal performance from Lee Sang-heon. Gangwon, who had gone four matches without a win (three draws and one loss) since the start of the season, used Daegu as a sacrificial lamb to secure their first win of the season. Gangwon moved up to eighth place, while Daegu dropped to 11th.