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[이데일리 스타in 이석무 기자] After many twists and turns, K League 1 Daegu FC advanced to the round of 16 with the first place in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) group.
Daegu won 2-1 in the final match against Lion City (Singapore) in the 2022 ACL group stage held at Buriram Stadium in Thailand on the 30th, overcoming the variable that the match was suspended due to heavy rain.
As a result, Daegu, which recorded 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, recorded 13 points in the group stage, and recorded the same points as Urawa Reds (Japan). Following last year when they reached the round of 16, they passed the group stage for the second year in a row. Of the four K-League teams that participated in this ACL, two teams, Jeonbuk Hyundai and Daegu, advanced to the round of 16. The round of 16 will be held in August. On the other hand, Lion City, led by manager Kim Do-hoon, who led Ulsan Hyundai’s ACL championship in 2020, recorded 7 points and was eliminated in 3rd place in the group.
Daegu, who lost 0-3 to Lion City in the second game on the 18th, started uneasy by conceding the opening goal from a long-range shot to Song Eui-young, a naturalized Korean native of Singapore, in the 26th minute of the first half.
Daegu finished the first half 0-1, and in the 9th minute of the second half, veteran striker Lee Geun-ho equalized the score. At the start of the second half, Lee Geun-ho, who came in as a substitute, rushed into Hong-cheol’s cross from the left flank and pushed it into his body.
After heavy rain, the game entered a chaotic phase. When it rained heavily and the ground became a ‘sea of water’ and the ball could not roll properly, the referee stopped the game in the 32nd minute of the second half.
It continued to rain, but the referee restarted the game after an hour or so. In the 36th minute of the second half, Jinhyuk Kim induced a penalty kick in the opponent’s penalty area. As the kicker, Jeka broke the balance by calmly hitting a right-footed shot. Jeka’s sixth goal in this tournament was the final goal, and Daegu advanced to the round of 16 dramatically.
