Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Jeonju: K League Classic champions Jeonbuk Motors returned to winning ways in Group E of the AFC Champions League on Tuesday at Jeonju World Cup Stadium after recording a hard-fought 2-0 win over Vietnam’s Becamax Binh Duong.
Brazilian striker Ricardo Lopes opened the scoring five minutes before half-time for Jeonbuk, who lost 3-2 in China’s to Jiangsu FC two weeks ago, against a committed Binh Duong.
And Lee Dong-gook sealed the win in the last minute as the striker netted his 30th AFC Champions League goal.
“It is very important to win your home games, but I told the players that the performance is also important. It did not go as we had planned,” said Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee.
“This season we have to play against teams like Binh Duong who sit deep. Our attacks down the wings were not good and we tried to play intricately through the middle, but made too many mistakes. After Kim Shin-wook came on, they were too many vague crosses into the area.
“But there has been a lot of changes in the playing staff and as the games keep coming, I believe we will get better. It was the right result for us.”
After collecting one point from the opening two games, including a 1-1 draw at home to early group leaders Jiangsu, Binh Duong started brightly at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.
But Binh Duong were slowly pushed back by the Korea Republic champions as Lee Dong-gook was robbed of possession at point blank range as the striker was about to pull the trigger after 15 minutes.
Four minutes later, Christian Amougou's smart backheel fell into the path of Henry Kisekka but the Ugandan shot straight at Jeonbuk goalkeeper Kwoun Sun-tae from the edge of the penalty area for Binh Duong.
Jeonbuk were having much of the ball, but were struggling to break down the well-organised defence and after the half hour, Binh Duong had their best spell of the game with Amougou's shot from inside the area looking goalbound before it was blocked by Lim Jong-eun.
But five minutes before the break Jeonbuk broke the deadlock as Lee Jae-sung lost control of the ball at the edge of the area, but it fortunately fell into the path of Lopes who drilled his perfect shot into the far corner to claim his first goal for his new club.
The 2006 champions started the second half aggressively and five minutes after the restart, Go Moo-yul's low shot just bobbled past Bui Tan Truong's right post.
Binh Duong, though, were still very much in the game and ten minutes into the second half defender Robert Dang Van fired a fierce shot that was well-saved by Jeonbuk goalkeeper Kwoun after the home side had only cleared a corner from the right as far as the edge of the penalty area.
Jeonbuk struggled to create clear cut chances despite continuing to be on top, but the home side finally sealed the win as Luiz Henrique crossed for Lee Dong-gook, who found the net via a deflection.
“We have played Jeonbuk three times now. The first time we lost 3-0, the second we drew 1-1 and today we lost 2-0. We made one mistake at the end of each half and then we lost the game. We hope to overturn this result at home,” said Binh Duong coach Nguyen Thanh Son with Jeonbuk set to visit Vietnam at the start of April.
“We worked at containing their attacks, but it didn't work for us. It was a tough match for us, but we competed well against a strong team and I was impressed by Lopes.
“We are looking forward to the return match and we are confident that we can keep improving.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports