Suwon Undone by a Benchwarmer’s Brother

By: Brett | April 9th, 2009

Crazy kick-off times, maiden victories, and winning goals from a pair of super-subs and a forgotten dude’s brother were all on the menu as South Korea took on China on match day 3 of the AFC Champions League.

Suwon Samsung Bluewings and FC Seoul were in China, whilst Pohang Steelers and Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i welcomed Chinese visitors to Korean shores. Both away teams got done, both home teams got a win.

Suwon’s decidely average league form finally followed them into Asia. Up until this week’s game against Shanghai Shenhua, the Bluewings had been dominating – two wins from two including a 4-1 Barca style mauling of Japanese champs Kashima Antlers on match day one.

Li Weifeng grabbed a goal but it was his former team who grabbed the win – 2-1 thanks to a late winner from Vyacheslav Hleb – and yes, his brother is the Hleb at Barca. I was going to add that he is the less successful brother, but then I thought, this dude is not just scoring winning goals for his club – he’s actually getting a game…so you tell me who’s doing better.

Suwon still sit atop group G, but only on goal difference, seeing as Kashima Antlers destroyed Singapore Armed Forces 4-1 in Singapore.

Suwon Samsung Bluewings (6), Kashima Antlers (6), Shanghai Shenhua (6), Singapore Armed Forces FC (0).

The game between Shandong Luneng and FC Seoul in Jinan kicked off at the crazy time of 3:30pm. Ok, is their a sillier time to start a midweek match than 3:30 in the afternoon? Why didn’t they just play it at 8:30 in the morning? or better yet, how about a midnight kick-off? Do the AFC not want packed stadiums? Or huge viewing audiences? What a piece of utter buffoonery.

Needless to say, the match was pretty much missed by anyone who may have wanted to watch it, including myself. I managed to catch the last 30 minutes or so, just enough time to see both the home teams goals. The 2-0 loss is the second in as many matches for FC Seoul and puts them in third place in group F.

Gamba Osaka (9), Shandong Luneng FC (6), FC Seoul (3), Sriwijaya (0).

Pohang and Ulsan both notched up home victories on match day 3 – both were 1-0, both goals were scored by substitutes and both were the first win for each team in this years competition.

Hwang Jin-sung was the super-sub for Pohang against Tianjin Teda as he headered in at the far post in the 67th minute after good flick on from Stevica Ristic. In the end the home team should have scored more, but a win’s a win at this stage. Pohang move up to second place in group H.

Kawasaki Frontale (7), Pohang Steelers (5), Central Coast Mariners (2), Tianjin Teda (1).

Ulsan Hyundai saw off Beijing Guon in their group E clash. The heros at the Munsu Football Stadium were Oh Jang-eun and keeper Kim Young-kwang. Oh stabbed the ball home from close range in the 69th minute to give his team the lead and Kim made sure of the win with six minutes left by saving an average penalty from Huang Bowen. Despite the win, Ulsan are still sitting in last place in their group.

Nagoya Grampus (5), Beijing Guoan (4), Newcastle Jets (4), Ulsan Hyundai (3)