The fight to escape direct relegation in the K League One has finally come down to a showdown between Suwon Samsung and Gangwon FC. Suwon and Gangwon lost their first matches of the final round side by side, failing to close the gap on the top teams on goal difference.
Suwon lost 0-2 away to Jeju United on Nov. 22. The team failed to pick up any points in a 1-2 loss to FC Seoul on the road in Gangwon Province.
Suwon remained stuck at the bottom of the league with 25 points. While Gangwon avoided the bottom of the table with the loss, they are still only one point behind Suwon on goal difference, which is far from reassuring. They are three goals behind Suwon on goal difference and could drop to the bottom of the table at any moment.
Tenth-ranked Suwon FC, which is in a battle with two other teams to stay up, earned a valuable point in a 1-1 draw away to Daejeon Hana Citizen. With 32 points on the board, they’ve extended their lead over 11th-place Gangwon to two games.
With only four games left to decide the final standings, it’s a gap that won’t be easy for Suwon and Gangwon to overcome, especially since the latter failed to pick up a point against Seoul, who secured their place in the Final B group even before the match. Things could get even more difficult for Gangwon if they don’t pick up a point against Daejeon, who also clinched their spot in the tournament today.
If Gangwon and Suwon don’t win their next round matches against Jeju and Daejeon, they’ll have to wait until the very end of the league to find out. The two teams will meet in the final on December 2. Neither team is in the best of spirits at the moment, so it’s likely that the relegation picture will be defined by this match at Suwon World Cup Stadium. 메이저놀이터
Gangwon changed coaches midseason from Choi Yong-soo to Yoon Jeong-hwan, but they are still dead last in the league in goals scored (26). Suwon, which has changed coaches twice this season, from Lee Byung-geun to Kim Byung-soo and Yi Ki-hoon, has also struggled to rebound. It’s especially unfortunate that they were unable to capitalize on the momentum they generated by beating the league’s second-place Pohang Steelers in their last game before the final round.
The bottom team in K-League 1 drops directly to the second division, while the 10th and 11th place teams have to play a relegation playoff against the top teams in K-League 2. Suwon already stayed up last season after a hard-fought second leg of the relegation playoffs with FC Anyang.
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