This post continues our series of team profiles ahead of the Asian Champions League. Last week, we took an in-depth look at the Melbourne Victory. This week, we have a slightly less in-depth look at the Chunnam Dragons, the Victory’s first opponent in the ACL.
Chunnam Dragons:
City: Gwangyang, South Korea
Stadium: Gwang-Yang Stadium, capacity 14,284
Coach: Park hang-Seo
The Chunnam Dragons come into the 2008 Asian Champions League hoping to do better than in the 2007 ACL, when they crashed out at the group stage. Like last year, they qualified for the Asian Champions League by winning the Korean FA Cup. The FA Cup has been their only arena of success so far, having never won the K-League (the closest they ever came was runner-up way back in 1997). Last year, they finished 10th – very poor, considering it’s a 14-team competition.
So Chunnam are inconsistent but capable, beat-able but dangerous. I’m glad we have Chunnam in our group – not K-League champions the Pohang Steelers – but the Dragons should certainly not be underestimated.
One man surely feeling the pressure to perform in Park hang-Seo, who took over as head coach in January after coaching Gyeongnam FC for the past three seasons. He replaced Huh jung-Moo, who himself has gone on to become the Korean Republic’s national coach, indicating just how highly he is rated. Park has big shoes to fill.
Judging by the team’s representation in the Korean Republic’s national team, Chunnam’s strength lies in defence. Of the three Chunnam players picked for Korea’s squad against Turkmenistan in early February, two were defenders: Kang min-Soo and Kwak tae-Hwi. The other was Yeom dong-Gyun, a goalkeeper. Earlier this year, the Dragons further bolstered their defence by enlisting the aid of Serbian-turned-Korean Lee Sa-Vik (the Koreanised version of his real name, Lee Sabic). At 32, Sa-Vik is an experienced defender who has been a familiar face in the K-League for a while, most recently playing for Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
One of those enlisted for the national team was Kwak tae-Hwi, who became a national hero after scoring twice this month: first against Turkmenistan in Korea’s World Cup qualifier; and then again against China earlier this week, in the opening match of the 2008 East Asian Championships. For a player with just three caps, that’s an impressive return.
Last year’s leading goalscorer for the Dragons was Sandro Hiroshi, one of three Brazilian attackers. The team captain, Song jung-Hyun, is another player to keep an eye on.
There’s not a whole on YouTube about the Chunnam Dragons, but I did find this video from 2006. It’s a nine-minute video, but the opening minute is worth watching if just to get a feel for what Chunnam support is like.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h5_02NpvS4[/youtube]
3 comments ↓
interesting team, good support but i think us melbourne boys can show em how we do it!
i think every team in asia is to be approached with caution after what happened in last years asian cup.
i think they will probably think that melbourne are an easy oppponent given a look at our season and coming off back to back fa cup wins, but with the strong finish to our season its looking positive for melbourne:)
They have a small stadium but it looks like the atmosphere will be there. Hopefully we can show them a packed dome and shell-shock them. We need to score early.
dose any one know if there is a live comentary of the match???
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