Reporter Han Bing reported that in the second round of the AFC Champions League, three South Korean teams lost to Southeast Asian teams in the AFC Champions League, the entire Korean football world was hairy, Naver Network called this round of fiasco as "Black Monday of the K League", K2 League midstream team Jeonnam Tenryu and Daegu FC, who ranked third from the bottom in the K1 League, lost barely acceptable, but the traditional giant Ulsan Hyundai at the top of the list lost to Malaysian overlord Johor, which broke through the psychological bottom line of the Korean football industry.
The defeat at Daegu FC first shook South Korean football, and their opponents are Singapore's Lion City sailors, whose coach Kim Do-hoon led Ulsan to the AFC Champions League in 2020 and former international Kim Shin-woo, who played for Shenhua, also played for the team.
It should be said that for the loss, the South Koreans did not expect, after all, in the first round of the game, Daegu defeated the Taishan Youth Army 7-0, while the Lion City lost 1-4 at the feet of Urawa, and its strength was very average. It should be noted that in this game, Kim Shin-woo did not start, naturalized South Korean player Song Yiyong took the lead in scoring, and Daegu gave up resistance after Diego López scored in the 70th minute.
Throughout the game, Daegu had 64.6 percent possession, a pass success rate of 83.6 percent, a shot-to-goal ratio of 24-11, and a corner-to-corner ratio of 12-3, but a shot-to-goal ratio of only 7-5.
The three-goal victory over Daegu was singapore's second victory in the AFC Champions League (the first was a 2–1 win over Henan by lion city sailors' predecessor, the Interior League, on April 2010).
Last year's FA Cup winner Jeonnam Tenryu lost, not surprisingly, after all, they were the worst of the three South Korean teams that lost, and the opponent was Thai champion Baton United, who had the advantage of home.
The least accepted of the three teams is Ulsan Hyundai, who was previously unbeaten in all competitions (8 wins and 3 draws), who are one of the big favourites for the AFC Champions League, but now even qualifying has become a problem.
After losing to Johor, Ulsan boss Hung Myung-fu admitted that the team performed badly and the result was a normal reaction to the process. After conceding a goal in the opening three minutes, Ulsan was unable to get into shape. After a slight improvement in the second half of the substitution, he also equalized, but after conceding another goal in the first 10 minutes of the final game, Ulsan had run out of time.
'This game, I don't think we can win because the two goals conceded came from our mistakes. Hong Mingfu said.
South Korean media believe that due to the relatively strong Korean football in the AFC Champions League in recent years, the contrast between the fiasco in this round is too huge. After all, Ulsan was the 2020 champion, Pohang finished second last year, and four South Korean teams qualified from all groups last year.
"Chosun Ilbo" stressed that South Korean fans are very disappointed, and many South Korean fans have left messages on social networks that "Chinese football has nothing to criticize", after all, South Korean football, which is known as Asia's first-class football, also lost to Southeast Asian football.
The sports edition of "East Asia Daily" believes that South Korea's BIG3 lost to Southeast Asian teams in the second round, which greatly damaged the self-esteem of Korean football and directly affected the group qualification situation of Korean teams.
Naver Sports headlined a message from a Korean fan: We must remember today, to recognize the sharp rise of southeast Asian football and be most prepared.
"JoongAng Daily" believes that the overall victory of Southeast Asian football against South Korean teams is largely due to southeast Asian football in recent years to actively accept South Korean football styles, Park Hengxu has created a more Korean tactical system for all ages in Vietnam, he is regarded as a successful model by the entire Southeast Asian football; the Lion City sailors coach is Kim Do-hoon, the team has Korean players such as Kim Xinyu and Song Yiyong, the team was acquired by it company SEA Group in 2020. The season budget is as high as 30 billion won (155 million yuan), more than all K League clubs, including Jeonbuk and Ulsan.
To the shame of South Korean media and fans, global media such as the Associated Press and ESPN also paid attention to "Black Monday", stressing that for Southeast Asian football, it is "a special day, because they replaced the powerful Korean team as the master of the AFC Champions League." ”
In fact, since 2015, Southeast Asian teams have gradually accumulated confidence in K-League teams. Thailand's Buriram United not only beat Seongnam FC and Jeju United, but also beat Jeonbuk at home in 2018 and 2019; Mongtong United won Ulsan in 2017, Chiang Rai United won Seoul in 2020, and Johor beat Suwon 2-1 in the same year. In last year's AFC Champions League quarter-finals, Baton United faced Jeonbuk and only lost in a penalty shootout.
According to the sports edition of the East Asia Daily, this year's "Black Monday" was not accidental, the hot and humid climate and unfamiliar turf caused the South Korean team to suffer losses, but this is not the main reason, Southeast Asian football is very good in personality, teamwork, fighting spirit, relying on quick counterattack and amazing concentration to beat the K League team, "and these should be the advantages of the Koreans." ”