Pohang, ACLE First Match Defeated 1-3 in Beijing... Daejeon Crushes Kyoto 1-0 in Japan

*This content was translated by AI.

Unable to overcome the burden of playing away from home, Pohang Steelers suffered a defeat in their opening match of the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) after being outplayed by Beijing Guoan (China) during their China trip.

On the 15th at 9:15 p.m. Korean time, Pohang played an away match against Beijing at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing, China, and suffered a decisive 1-3 loss in the first leg of the 2026–2027 ACLE League Stage 1.

Pohang, which had struggled recently with three draws and one loss in their last four K League 1 matches, aimed to turn things around in this tournament but bowed their heads after exposing defensive concentration issues away from home. Having competed in ACL2, the second tier of Asian club competitions last season, Pohang returned to the top-tier ACLE this season as the fourth-place finisher in K League 1 last year, yet they began with disappointment.

The defense wavered from the start of the match. Just two minutes after kickoff, a defensive error allowed Beijing's Shadrack Akolo to score an early goal.

The counterattack came quickly. Two minutes after conceding the goal, Pohang earned a penalty kick when Tranziska drew a foul from Beijing defender Deng Zefu. In the sixth minute of the first half, Tranziska stepped up as the kicker and calmly scored with a right-footed shot to equalize at 1-1.

However, it was home team Beijing that regained the lead. In the 12th minute of the first half, Pohang goalkeeper Yoon Pyeong-guk saved Akolo's right-footed shot from inside the penalty box, but he conceded a second-ball shot to Zhang Shijie, who rushed toward the goal, putting them behind 1-2 again.

Immediately after the start of the second half, another fatal goal was conceded. In the first minute of the second half, during a chaotic situation in front of the goal, Pohang's defense failed to clear the ball completely, and Yerehmi Dujak calmly connected with a left-footed shot to find the back of the net. Although Pohang pushed forward afterward, they could not close the two-goal gap and were forced to kneel.

Meanwhile, on the same day at Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon Hana Citizen defeated Japan's Kyoto Sanga FC 1-0, thanks to a late winning goal by Bobo in the 33rd minute of the second half.

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*This content was translated by AI.