In Matchup of Rising Soccer Stars, Hard Worker Beats Genius

“Soccer prodigy” Park Joo-young (20, FC Seoul) and “single-minded striker” Kim Jin-yong (23. Ulsan Hyundai). On the green ground of the Korean professional soccer league, the match up between the two new players ended with a win for Kim.

On May 15, the opening match between Ulsan Hyundai and FC Seoul in the 2005 Samsung Hauzen Cup was held at Munsu World Cup Stadium in Ulsan. In the match, Kim Jin-yong led his team to a 1-0 victory after scoring a goal on a header in the first injury time. The goal was the first one scored in the K-League regular season and was Kim’s seventh goal, including the “2005 Samsung Hauzen Cup.”

Kim Jin-yong dropped out of Hanyang University last year and made his way into professional soccer league, while Park Joo-young debuted in the professional soccer league after obtaining a leave of absence from Korea University earlier in the season. Kim and Park are currently leading the Korean professional soccer’s “New Renaissance” with a record of six goals each in the Samsung Hauzen Cup, respectively.

Kim Jin-yong scored a goal by heading the ball toward the right side of the goalmouth after receiving a ball from Hyun Young-min, who bounded the ball from the left side of the penalty area. The goal went into the left side of goal net directly opposite FC Seoul’s goalkeeper, Won Jong-deok.

With his opening and winning goal in the game, Kim completely wiped out the stain of a former defeat it their first match against each other, in which Park scored a winning goal and led his team to a 1-2 defeat in their first match in the Samsung Hauzen Cup on May 1. Thanks to Kim’s winning goal, Ulsan Hyundai showed sign of escaping the stigma of being the “second ranked team of all time.”

During the game, fans complained from time to time as the players appealed to a referee whenever he whistled in the game, including FC players, who strongly appealed to a referee after a referee declared a penalty kick for Ulsan Hyundai after FC Seoul’s Gwak Tae-hee committed a foul against Ulsan Hyundai’s Carlos at the six minute mark of the first half.

During the fierce competition, Ulsan Hyundai’s Carlos and FC Seoul’s Ricardo were expelled from the game. In the game, the two teams had as many as 10 warnings. FC Seoul had 20 fouls, and Ulsan Hyundai had nine fouls. The injury time of the game alone took up nine minutes.

Suwon Samsung, the champion in last year’s K-league, tied against Daejeon Citizen, thanks to Gwak Hee-joo’s equalizer. Seongnam Ilhwa won the game against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, 1-0 on Brazilian player Dodo’s winning shot.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com