If 7th place Jeonbuk loses to 5th place Seoul, it will be final B.
Key resources such as Baek Seung-ho, Song Min-gyu, and Park Jin-seop will face the burden of being called up for the Asian Games.
Is it 10 years of power?
A tradition that shines with the first 5 consecutive wins in professional soccer K-League 1 (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) and the most 9 wins (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) ‘Powerhouse’ Jeonbuk Hyundai is at the final crossroads of falling to Final B (7th to 12th place) for the first time since its founding. 파워볼
7th place Jeonbuk (46 points) will go on an expedition in the 33rd round of Hana One Q K League 1 2023 against 5th place FC Seoul (47 points) at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 3pm on the 8th.
This round 33 is the final game that separates Final A (1st to 6th place teams) from Final B.
However, the battle for rankings among mid-tier teams to determine Final A is a close race until the end.
The 1st to 4th ranked teams, Ulsan Hyundai (66 points), Pohang Steelers (58 points), Gwangju FC (51 points), and Daegu FC (48 points), have confirmed Final A, while 5th place Seoul and 6th place Incheon United (47 points), three teams up to 7th place Jeonbuk will compete in the fateful 33rd round for the last two spots.
All six games of round 33 will kick off at 3 p.m. on the 8th.
Among the three teams currently ranked 5th to 7th, the most unfavorable matchup is Incheon. Incheon meets Ulsan, the ‘absolute top’.
Incheon and Ulsan played the second leg of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League group stage on the 3rd.
However, Incheon won a landslide victory (4-0) at home, but Ulsan returned home after suffering a 0-1 defeat in Kawasaki, Japan, so Incheon has a good atmosphere.
In particular, Incheon is a team united with a strong survival instinct that becomes stronger in crisis situations.
I am confident that we were evenly matched against Ulsan this season with 1 win and 1 loss (0-1 loss, 2-1 win).
The game that fans are most interested in is the match between 5th place Seoul and 7th place Jeonbuk.
Jeonbuk will advance to Final B if it loses to Seoul in the 33rd round.
Even if Jeonbuk draws with Seoul, if Incheon secures a point against Ulsan, it will remain in Final B.
In addition, even if Incheon loses to Ulsan, if Jeonbuk draws with Seoul without scoring, the points will be the same as Incheon, but Final B will be confirmed due to losing the number of points.
Seoul is in a better situation than Jeonbuk as they can secure at least 6th place just by drawing.
In the end, the best way for Jeonbuk to prevent its first fall to Final B since its founding is to win the game against Seoul.
This season, Jeonbuk met Seoul twice and took the lead with 1 win and 1 draw (1-1 draw, 2-1 win).
The current situation in Jeonbuk is not very good.
Jeonbuk did not perform very well with 2 wins, 3 draws, and 3 losses in the 8 games played between August and September.
During the same period, Seoul was slightly ahead with 2 wins, 4 draws, and 2 losses.
Jeonbuk has to prepare for the Seoul game on the weekend after playing the second game of the ACL group stage away to Thailand on the 4th, and it is also burdensome that key offensive and defensive resources such as Baek Seung-ho, Song Min-gyu, and Park Jin-seop were called up to the Hangzhou Asian Games.
In order to reduce the movement of the players, Jeonbuk decided to stay in Incheon and prepare for the Seoul game rather than returning to Jeonju upon returning home.