FC Seoul Tops K-League

FC Seoul had dropped as far down as fifth place in the middle of the season, but rebounded to take a one-point lead over Jeju United on gameday 29 (of 30) with a victory over Seongnam. Of the five teams that held first place during the season, Jeju was it for the longest, at 10 consecutive weeks before being dethroned.

Still, one point is a perilous lead in any season, no less the Korean pro soccer league. Sunday's match-ups pitted #1 and #2 against bottom tier squads Daejeon Citizen and Incheon United, respectively.

It looked good for FCS from the start, with a goal in the fourth minute to deflate the opposition--additionally, Seoul has not lost a game at home in sixteen straight starts, a win this day would tie the K-League record. The match magazine declared 정조국 key player #1 today, and there he was drawing first blood.

It looked for a long time like that was all the scoring we would see, but with about 17 minutes remaining, Daejeon got a goal from about 8 yards out by some dude who was not even on the roster in the magazine.  I never saw them post an updated score from the Jeju match, so one could only hope they were in a tie as well.

FCS didn't think like that, though, and really put on the pressure, challenging the defense again and again until  김치우 got the go ahead point in the 88th minute!  Turns out the tie was really all that was needed, as Jeju and Incheon went scoreless through ninety minutes.

So, there will be but one more game at Sangam this season, the final game of a two-leg championship on December 5th.   I'll be there.