*This content was translated by AI.
Suwon Samsung manager Lee Jeong-hyo made a rather radical choice by fielding a goalkeeper as a position player. However, Suwon ultimately failed to overcome the wall of lower-league teams and suffered the humiliation of an early exit from the Korea Cup.
On the 15th at 7 p.m., Suwon engaged in a fierce battle that went into extra time against K3 League leader Busan Transportation Corporation in the Round of 64 of the 2026-2027 Korea Cup at Yangsan Stadium, eventually losing 1-2. As a result, Suwon was caught by a lower-league team and eliminated from the Korea Cup's second round.
On this day, Suwon suffered severe player shortages even before kickoff. Key members including Kim Do-yeon, Ilyuchenko, Fesin, Kim Ji-sung, Go Seung-beom, Kim Sung-joo, Jung Dong-yoon, Lee Jun-jae, and Mo Gyeong-bin were named in the starting lineup, while center-back Han Hyun-seo, acquired from Pohang Steelers, made his starting debut. The goal was guarded by veteran Yang Hyung-mo, who started for the first time in a while.
The starting lineup was assembled normally, but the bench was problematic. While Busan Transportation Corporation filled all nine substitution slots, Suwon's bench consisted of only six players: standby goalkeeper Lee Kyung-jun, Park Dae-won, Lebon, Kang Sung-jin, Kim Ji-ho, and Park Ji-won.
Suwon started well. In the 11th minute of the first half, a cross resulting from Go Seung-beom's volley missing the target during a corner kick situation was connected, and Fesin finished with a header goal to take the lead. Suwon ended the first half leading 1-0 and made a change immediately after the second half began by substituting Lee Jun-jae for Park Dae-won.
However, the atmosphere shifted strangely in the second half. In the 17th minute of the second half, Suwon goalkeeper Yang Hyung-mo committed a fatal touch error inside the penalty box, and Busan Transportation Corporation's Yan did not miss the opportunity to equalize, returning the match to square one.
After conceding the equalizer, Suwon immediately launched an all-out attack by substituting in Kang Sung-jin, Lebon, and Kim Ji-ho simultaneously. To make matters worse, in the 28th minute of the second half, substitute Park Dae-won collapsed due to injury, forcing Park Ji-won onto the field urgently. With this substitution, Suwon exhausted all five available field player cards on its bench.
The match entered extra time, and with no more usable field player resources available, manager Lee Jeong-hyo ultimately made an extreme decision.
In the first half of extra time, Suwon substituted in 2006-born rookie goalkeeper Lee Kyung-jun as an attacker. Lee Kyung-jun donned the jersey of Park Dae-won, who had been substituted out after the first half ended, and was positioned as a forward striker, creating a bizarre scene. Thus, goalkeeper Lee Kyung-jun made his professional debut as a field player.
Despite this desperate measure of deploying a goalkeeper at the very front, Suwon ultimately could not smile. In the late stages of the first half of extra time, an agonizing own goal by Kim Ji-ho gave Busan Transportation Corporation a 2-1 lead. Suwon threw everything they had in the remaining time to seek an equalizer but could not open Busan's goal again, eventually bowing to the lower-league team and sadly concluding their tournament campaign.
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*This content was translated by AI.
