Gwangju FC defeated Yokohama 7-3
Gwangju FC defeated Yokohama 7-3
Blog Article
Gwangju FC, a professional soccer team, defeated Japan's Yokohama F. Marinos, the No. 2 Asian team, last season and won its first Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite (ACLE) victory.
Gwangju beat Yokohama 7-3 in the first round of the 2024-2025 ACLE League Stage at Gwangju World Cup Stadium on Sunday. It clinched its historic first victory in the Asian Club World Cup with a four-point victory in 14 years since its foundation.
Gwangju, which had a performance far from the Asian stage, was reborn as a team of sensation after coach Lee Jung-hyo took the helm ahead of the 2022 season. Gwangju, which was promoted immediately under the direction of Lee, ranked third in the K League 1 last year, the first year of promotion, and participated in the ACLE, and on the day of the Chuseok holiday, it even won its first ACLE victory.
Yokohama, which won the runner-up prize in the 2023-2024 Champions League (ACL), advanced to the championship as the runner-up team in the 2023 J-League. It is ranked seventh in the J-League this season.
Starting this season, the ALC will be divided into the top-ranked ALCLE and the second-ranked ALC2. Yokohama lost three consecutive matches against the K-League 1 civic clubs, continuing its struggle.
Yokohama had a shock loss of 2-4 to Incheon United in its first group match of the ALC last season. It also lost to Incheon 1-2 in its fifth group match of the away game.
"Albania Express" Asani took the lead in Gwangju's victory by scoring three goals and one assist including the first goal and the netting goal. Asani remains the first player in the team's history to score a hat trick at the Asian Games.
In the second minute of the first half, Asani got Jeong Ho-yeon's pass from the right side and started driving the ball to the front of the penalty arc, before unexpectedly hitting a left-footed mid-range shot to the right side of the net at a time when his defense network became loose. It was his first goal in Gwangju's Asian club competition.
Gwangju, which drove a bewildered Yokohama, scored an additional goal in the 15th minute of the first half. In the counterattack situation, No-Mark's Oh Moon-sung finished the cross from the right side with a header to make it 2-0.
Yokohama recovered with a goal from Brazilian striker Eubert in the 34th minute of the first half. Eubert on the left side of the goal area connected the ball that Hijiri Kato dropped with his head with a right foot volley and his shot was inserted into the opposite goal.
Gwangju, which raised the level of pressure early in the second half, opened the Yokohama goal again with Asani's wonder goal 10 minutes later. Asani boldly shot a left-footed shot near the right corner of the penalty area and the ball was sucked into the opposite corner beyond the goalkeeper's reach.
The game turned into a slugfest. When Eubert scored a goal in the 14th minute of the second half that forced Yokohama to follow 2-3, Becca from Gwangju finished Asani's cutback with his right foot at the gate at the 23rd minute of the second half to create a four-to-two, two-point lead for Gwangju. Gwangju then scored consecutive goals by Lee Hee-kyun in the 27th minute of the second half and Gabriel in the 29th minute to lead the team 6-2. 토토사이트
Yokohama was sent off in the 33rd minute of the second half with center back Eduardo receiving a red card for a rough tackle on Gabriel in the first minute of the substitution, and Takuma Nishimura's chase goal, which only came out in the 40th minute of the second half, was not enough to reverse the flow of victory. In the 47th minute of the second half, Asani entered the goal area and finished Becca's penetration pass with a chip shot to complete a hat trick, sealing the victory in Gwangju.