Professional soccer’s K League 2 Bucheon FC defeated Chungnam Asan for its third consecutive win thanks to a goal from Hwangseon Hongho striker Ahn Jae-jun, who is set to compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Bucheon won 1-0 at home against Chungnam Asan in the 30th round of the Hana OneQ K League 2 at Bucheon Sports Complex on Feb. 2, thanks to Ahn Jae-jun’s 42nd-minute winner.
Bucheon, unbeaten in five matches (four wins, one draw) with its last three wins combined, has accumulated 48 points to move up to third place, pushing Gyeongnam FC (45 points), which has played one game less, into fourth.
Meanwhile, Chungnam Asan (30 points), who have lost three straight, remain in 11th place.
Bucheon, who hadn’t had many scoring chances, came up short in first-half stoppage time when Lee Jung-bin’s strong left-footed shot from the left side of the penalty area off a pass from Lupeta narrowly missed the right post of Chungnam Asan’s goal.
Chungnam Asan immediately counterattacked, but Jung Sung-ho’s right-footed shot from in front of the goal sailed just over the crossbar to end the first half scoreless.
With zero shots on goal in the first half, Bucheon tried to change the atmosphere in the second half by introducing striker Ahn Jae-jun in the 13th minute, and he proved to be the solution.
Ahn sealed the win in the 42nd minute when he collected a header from Park Homin near midfield, cut in from the left side of the penalty area, and placed the ball into the right corner of the Chungnam Asan goal with an exquisite left-footed curling shot.
Ahn, who is an attacking resource for the Hangzhou Asian Games football team led by coach Hwang Sun-hong, refined his goal-scoring skills ahead of the national team’s training camp, which begins in Changwon on Nov. 4.
At the Gimcheon Sports Complex, hosts Gimcheon Commerce played out a goalless draw with Chungbuk Cheongju FC.
Gimcheon (52 points), which hasn’t secured a win in its last two matches (one draw and one loss), will need a win against FC Anyang (42 points) on Wednesday and second-placed Busan I-Park (50 points), which plays 30 rounds, to lose the top spot to Busan.
Seventh-ranked Chungbuk Cheongju (P40), which took a point, extended its unbeaten run to 13 matches (seven wins and six draws) but remained unchanged in the standings.
Both teams were unable to create any significant scoring chances in the first half as strong rain poured down.
Gimcheon, which upped the ante in the second half, saw Kim Dong-hyun’s right-footed shot from the front of the penalty area go just wide of Chungbuk Cheongju’s right post in the 10th minute of the second half, and Cho Young-wook’s strong right-footed shot from the left side of the goal area in the 17th minute of the second half was saved by the goalkeeper. 먹튀검증