Professional soccer club Incheon United kept its hopes of reaching the round of 16 in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) alive with a 2-1 win over Japan’s Yokohama F.Marinos.
Incheon defeated Yokohama Marinos (Japan) 2-1 in the fifth home match of Group G of the 2023-2024 AFC ACL at the Incheon Football Stadium on Monday.
Incheon, which is playing in the ACL for the first time in its 20-year history, has accumulated nine points with three wins and two losses and sits second in the group.
They followed up their 4-2 win over Yokohama in the first match of Group G with another victory here, making it two wins in a row against the Japanese side.
They have the same number of points as Choi Kang-hee’s first-place Shandong Taishan (China), but have already suffered two losses against Shandong (0-2, 1-3).
Yokohama, who entered the ACL as last season’s J-League champions, fell to third place (9-3W, 2-2L) after being outplayed by Incheon.
In this season’s AFC group stage, the winner of each of the five East Asian groups (Groups F through J) will qualify for the round of 16, while the three best-placed teams in each group will punch their ticket to the round of 16.
With Mugosa, Jerso, and Mpoku all sidelined with injuries and Hernandez on the substitutes’ bench, Incheon lined up with Chun Sung-hoon as the center forward and Kim Bo-seob and Park Seung-ho, both born in 2003, on the wings.
Incheon, who threatened the opponent’s goal from the start of the match with Park Seung-ho’s shot following Kim Bosup’s cross, took the lead in the 11th minute when Hong Si-hoo scored on a counterattack.
Kim Bo-seop’s cutback from the left flank was met by Chun Sung-hoon with a left-footed volley that was saved by the goalkeeper, and the bouncing ball was collected by Hong Si-hoo with a right-footed volley from the right penalty area to rattle the net.
Incheon held on to their lead with Kim Dong-heon putting on a show of saves, getting a hand to a header from Yokohama Iweru in the seventh minute and tiptoeing away a left-footed shot from Mizunuma Gota in the 36th minute.
Two minutes later, Yoshio Kaina’s sharp left-footed free kick hit the crossbar, sending him scrambling to his feet.
In the eighth minute of the second half, Incheon brought on Hernandez in search of an additional goal.
In the 22nd minute, Kim Bo-seop sent a pass into the box from the right penalty area, and Hernandez stuck his left foot into the corner of the net.
Yokohama pulled one back in the 38th minute on a header from a corner kick, but Incheon did not concede any more goals.
Meanwhile, Yokohama’s Nam Tae-hee was grounded in the 19th minute and played until the end of the game.
Meanwhile, Ulsan defeated BG Pathum United (Thailand) 3-1 in the fifth match of Group I at Pathum Thani Stadium.
Ulsan, the defending K League 1 champions, remain in second place in Group I with nine points from three wins and two losses.
In the other Group I match at the same time, first-place Kawasaki Frontale (Japan – 15 points) defeated third-place Johor Darul Taqzim (Malaysia – 6 points) 5-0.
With the win, Ulsan clinched second place in the group, regardless of the outcome of the final match.
If Ulsan loses against Kawasaki in Game 6 and Johor wins against Paktum, Ulsan and Johor will have the same number of points, but Ulsan will have a better head-to-head record (3-1 wins, 1-2 losses, +1 goal difference).
Therefore, the second-place finisher in each group will determine whether Ulsan advances to the Round of 16.
Ulsan took the lead in the 20th minute on an own goal.
Then, in the 27th minute, Rubiksson scored another goal with his left foot to increase the lead.
Lee Myung-jae added a third goal in the 17th minute of the second half, and Ulsan held on for the victory despite conceding a goal seven minutes later to Pathum. 토토사이트