Ulsan HD defeated Jeonbuk Hyundai and reached the semifinals of the Asian Champions League thanks to Seol Young-woo's winning goal.
Ulsan won 1-0 against Jeonbuk in the second leg of the 2023-24 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) quarterfinals at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan at 7 p.m. on the 12th.
Ulsan, which had a 2-1 aggregate advantage in the first and second matches, will settle down in the semifinals, and will be able to challenge for the first time in four years. It will compete with the winner of Japan's Yokohama F. Marinos vs. Shandong Taishan quarterfinal against China for advance to the final.
Seol Young-woo scored the first goal in the first half of extra time
Ulsan is 4-2-3-1. With Joo Min-gyu as the one-top, Rubik's Son, Ataru, and Um Won-sang applied in the second line. Go Seung-beom and Lee Gyu-seong were in the midfield, and Lee Myung-jae, Kim Young-kwon, Hwang Seok-ho and Seol Young-woo were also in the back, and Cho Hyun-woo was in the goalkeeper's gloves.
Jeonbuk also operated 4-2-3-1. Tia was deployed in the front, and Moon Seon-min, Song Min-gyu, and Lee Dong-jun were deployed in the second line. Maeng Sung-woong and Lee Soo-bin guarded the midfield, while Kim Jin-soo, Park Jin-seop, Hong Jung-ho, and Kim Tae-hwan defended the goal at four-back.
Ulsan dominated the game by securing more than 70 percent of possession until the middle of the first half. Lee Myung-jae's free-kick shot in front of the arc slightly went over the goal in the 12th minute.
Jeonbuk took advantage of right-handed Lee Dong-joon's fastball. Lee Dong-joon sent a low cross in the 13th minute of the first half, and goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo perfectly blocked the ball that Thiago, who was penetrating into the box, connected with a shot.
Ulsan fought back again. In the 17th minute of the first half, Joo Min-gyu's free header was caught in the hands of goalkeeper Kim Jung-hoon, causing regret.
Jeonbuk showed sharpness in several intermittent attacks. Maeng Sung-woong scored a penetrating pass into the back of the defense in the 28th minute of the first half, and Moon Sun-min had a decisive opportunity, but the left-footed shot was blocked by goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo.
Ulsan faced a bad news in the 31st minute of the first half when Ko Seung-beom collapsed to the ground due to an injury. Matheus took the place.
After more than 30 minutes, they gave Jeonbuk the lead for a while, but Ulsan's concentration was more advanced. In the second minute of extra time in the first half, Joo Min-kyu opened it to the left, and Rubik's hand folded and crossed. Seol Young-woo, who was rushing from the other side, scored a right-footed non-stop shot into the net. The first half ended with Ulsan's 1-0 lead.
Ulsan's strong defensive organization neutralizes Jeonbuk's offensive
In the second half, Jeonbuk raised its line and increased the proportion of its offense. However, Cho Hyun-woo, the guardian deity of Ulsan, was holding out. Cho Hyun-woo escaped the crisis with a super save on Thiago's goal shot following Song Min-gyu's pass at the 6th minute of the second half.
Jeonbuk put forward Lee Young-jae, who is highly aggressive, instead of Maeng Sung-woong, to seek a turnaround. Ulsan showed a passive stance by getting off somewhat in the early part of the second half.
Jeonbuk only made it easy to advance to the opponent's side, but the last detail fell. It was not enough to break down Ulsan's solid defensive organization.
Coach Petrescu of Jeonbuk added Jeon Byung-kwan and Vinicius instead of Lee Soo-bin and Moon Seon-min in the 28th minute of the second half, increasing the number of attacks. Ulsan manager Hong Myung-bo also responded by calling in Ataru and Rubik's Son and adding Lee Dong-kyung and Kim Min-woo.
Jeonbuk has yet to unravel the clues to its offense. Coach Hong Myung-bo made efforts to strengthen its defense to the extreme by substituting center back Lim Jong-eun for a back three. Eventually, the trend did not change. Ulsan won the game by maintaining a one-goal gap.
Ulsan has a clear advantage over rival Jeonbuk
In the first game, Jeonbuk scored Song Min-gyu's first goal early in the first half, but Lee Myung-jae scored an equalizer in the 32nd minute of the second half, drawing 1-1. It was a game that would leave a lot of regret for Jeonbuk. Not only did it perform better than Ulsan, but it also missed the victory that was achieved by Jeong Tae-wook's mistake.
Ulsan has had two consecutive wins since the opening of the K-League 1, while Jeonbuk has suffered two consecutive draws. Notably, both teams operated the rotation system in the second round of the K-League 1 last weekend, giving some of their key players a rest.
The two teams showed commitment to make all-out efforts in the second round of the ALC quarterfinals. Beyond the simple meaning of "Hyundai Ga Derby," the match was a must-win game to advance to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which has been expanded to include 32 countries along with the victory in the ALC.
The final winner was Ulsan. Ulsan was one place ahead in terms of outcome and content. Coach Hong Myung-bo said, "If we played soccer focusing on possession in the first half, we could have won the game by focusing on defense in the second half when our team was leading 1-0.
The match was a one-goal match, and right fullback Seol Young-woo, who participated in the attack at the right time, penetrated into the box and scored the winning goal. Seol Young-woo, who scored the winning goal in the final round against Jeonbuk last season, once again poured cold water on Jeonbuk.
Seol is enjoying a prosperous career year by year. She has become a fullback as she moves back and forth from left to right. Having enjoyed the joy of joining the Korean national team for the first time last year, Seol played at the 2023 Asian Cup and played as a starting fullback.
In the defense on this day, goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo's performance was brilliant. It was crucial to prevent all sharp effective shots from Jeonbuk and to keep it scoreless.
Ulsan has beaten its rival Jeonbuk in the 2022 and 2023 seasons to become the No. 2 player in total. Ulsan's momentum is unabated. It proved itself to be the strongest team in the K-League by gaining the upper hand over Jeonbuk in this season as well.