Fates diverge for K League teams: Pohang, with 'zero' shots on target, falls to Japan's Kashima... Seoul 'explodes for five goals' and smiles in Vietnam

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

Professional football K League 1 side Pohang Steelers has fallen into a slump of three consecutive defeats in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite (ACLE).

Pohang suffered a 0-3 crushing defeat to Kashima Antlers in the away match for the third round of the 2026-2027 ACLE league stage, held at Saitama Stadium on the 28th.

On this day, Pohang focused on defense with a 5-3-2 formation and aimed for counterattacks, but was powerless, recording not a single shot on target out of four total shots. Pohang, which held on scoreless through the first half, collapsed after conceding the opening winning goal to Ryuta Koike in the 24th minute of the second half, followed by consecutive goals from Chabrich in the 30th minute and Buenou in the 42nd minute of the second half.

After the match, Manager Park Tae-ha reflected on the cause of the defeat, stating, "We prepared to defend first and then counterattack, and things went according to plan until the first goal conceded, but we failed to capitalize on opportunities afterward."

With this loss, Pohang dropped to 14th place among the 16th teams in the East Asia region, and has recorded two draws and three losses in official matches played in October, falling into deep slump. The K League 1 teams currently within the top eight positions that qualify for the tournament are Daejeon (9th) with four points and Jeonbuk (10th).

On the other hand, FC Seoul, which has secured the K League 1 championship, achieved a sweet first victory in the third match of Group E in the AFC Champions League Two (ACL2). Seoul won big 5-0 in an away match against The Cong Viettel at Hanoi My Dinh Stadium in Vietnam.

With Kim Sang-sik, head coach of the Vietnam national team, watching in person, Seoul fielded many of its key players as starters and exploded for four goals in just the first half. Starting with Moon Sun-min in the 8th minute, Anderson (21st), Hwang Do-yoon (29th), and Cho Yeong-wook (34th) scored consecutively, and Huys closed out the scoring in the 9th minute of the second half.

Moon Sun-min, Anderson, and Huys each recorded one goal and one assist, while Babetz led the attack with multiple assists.

Seoul found itself at a numerical disadvantage after Yazan was sent off for accumulating yellow cards in the 21st minute of the second half, but maintained a scoreless victory. With a record of one win and two losses (three points) in the group stage, Seoul jumped from last place to third in the group, keeping alive the spark for advancing to the quarterfinal tournament, which is granted to the top two teams in each group.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original