Preview: Gimcheon Sangmu Vs Seongnam FC | OneFootball

In the 25th round, Seongnam will travel to the mountains of Gimcheon to face the league leader Gimcheon Sangmu. Will the Magpies keep their fine form and give Gimcheon the second loss in a row, or will the Military team bounce back from the defeat against second-place Anyang last Monday?

July Over June?

Seongnam FC had a terrible month in June with three losses in three matches against similar-level opponents. The first loss came against Asan where Seongnam was the better team but the lack of quality in the last third’s actions was costly as well as the lack of concentration in key moments defensively. After that, Seongnam hosted Seoul E-Land, an opponent that the Magpies had beaten previously in the season. Once again Seongnam couldn’t capitalize on possession and lost 2-1 at home with Seoul E-Land making a comeback from 0-1.

The last match in the month of June was also at home against Bucheon and it was a frustrating one for Seongnam supporters as the game-winning goal came in the 89th minute from Kim Kyu-min who entered the match five minutes prior to the goal.

Frustrating clearly is a good word to summarize Seongnam’s month of June.

In terms of results, the month of July started way better than June with two 0-0 draws against Cheongju and Gimpo but the frustration started to grow among Seongnam's supporters because in both matches Seongnam had a good number of opportunities to get the three points.

The acquisition of Jeju’s striker Jin Seong-wook on loan seemed to be the turning point. The first match he started was against Busan after playing 19 minutes against Cheongju and 31 against Gimpo. The South Korean international made the difference in a tight match against Busan, scoring two of the three goals scored by Seongnam in a hard-fought 2-3 win.

Gyeongnam was the next opponent and the Magpies wanted to get revenge after the last game between both teams where Gleyson scored in the 90th minute to take away three points from Seongnam, that match ended in a 2-2 draw.

But history repeated itself with Gleyson scoring the 1-1 goal in the 63rd minute, this match marked the debut of Gabriel Honorio.

Historical Match:

Seongnam made history on the 23rd of July with a loss against Cheonan City, this loss marked the first-ever win for Cheonan in K League 2! Being on the wrong side of history is not good but Seongnam kept their heads high and managed to win the next match, against Jeonnam.

Seongnam, after a dreadful performance against Cheonan, had possibly the best performance of the season so far, the Magpies controlled the match against Jeonnam and created a lot of chances. The match ended 2-1 but Jin Seong-wook and Gabriel terrorized the Dragons.

What To Expect From Seongnam:

Lee Ki-hyung will stay faithful to the 5-2-3 but with some question marks on the left-wing, center-back, and right-back positions.

The center-back situation is very simple, it really depends on what the coach prefers. As of late, the center-back pair has been Kang Eui-bin and Jo Seung-wook but Patrick Flottmann has been a very active 3rd option. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him in the starting eleven alongside captain Jo Seung-wook, since he is a more reliable center-back against big teams because he doesn't commit himself to interceptions and man-marking strikers, he is a less modern center-back than Kang, therefore less prone to make mistakes in the defensive positioning.

The right-back and left-wing choices are linked because it comes down to where the U22 player will play, if Lee Ki-hyung decides to play more eye-to-eye against Gimcheon, we might see a front three with Manzinga, Jin Seong-wook, and Gabriel with Kim Hun-min (U22) as the right-back. But if Lee Ki-hyung prefers a safer approach to the match, Jung Han-min or Lee Jun-sang, both U22, can play in the left wing with Lee Ji-hun filling in the right-back position. Either way, Seongnam will try to get the three points, especially after the addition of Gabriel who has been superb for the Magpies, as well as his counterpart Jin Seong-wook.

What To Expect From Gimcheon Sangmu:

Expect to see a dominant Gimcheon side against a much weaker Seongnam, with Cho Young-wook being the major threat to the Magpies. The Seoul player, on loan at Gimcheon, is the 3rd best goal scorer in K League 2 with 10 goals to his name, falling short of Valdivia and Gleyson both with 11 goals, not only is he a goal threat but also a playmaker with four assists. Won Du-jae and Lee Sang-min will be difficult players to get around, but it will be an entertaining duel against Jin Seong-wook and Gabriel.

Although highly improbable, Goo Bon-cheol and Lee Jung-min can play against Seongnam on the 6th of August, both players are on loan from Seongnam.

2-2 draw in the 12th round.