The final game of the K League season takes place on Sunday afternoon and it’s the 2nd Leg of the Promotion / Relegation Playoff between Seongnam FC & Gangwon. The first leg ended in a dull 0-0 (Details Here), so it all comes down to this, here is a brief preview and our prediction;
Seongnam FC vs. Gangwon – K League Promotion / Relegation Playoff 2nd Leg @ 3pm (Agg 0-0)
The promotion / relegation playoffs enters the 2nd leg following a cagey 1st. It’s between K League Challenge Playoff Winners Gangwon and 11th placed K League Side Seongnam FC. Seongnam had an awful run of form toward the end of the season dropping down from mid-table and into the relegation playoff spot. Seongnam have only 1 win in 15 games (including the 1st leg), and that was against bottom side Suwon FC. Gangwon on the other hand won both of their playoff games vs. Busan I’Park and then Bucheon 1995, after finishing the season in 4th place.
Moving onto the prediction it’s tough because you’d hope the game will be more open than the 1st leg, we see Seongnam edging it, it might go into extra time but overall we see Seongnam FC staying in the K League Classic for the 2017 season.
Prediction: 2 – 1
Gangwon v Seongnam FC – Head to Head Record:
Played 15
Gangwon 5
Draws 2
Seongnam 9
Before the 1st Leg, they last played either other in October 2013 with Gangwon winning 2-1 that evening, Choi Jin-Ho scoring the winner.
K League Playoff 2nd Leg Result
Seongnam FC 1 – 1 Gangwon (agg 1-1)
Gangwon have won promotion back into the K League Classic following a draw against Seongnam. They’re promoted thanks to their away goal. Therefore Seongnam FC drop down into the 2nd tier K League Challenge for the 2017 season. The game we more open than the first and it was Gangwon who scored first a few minutes before half time. Seongnam saw a glimmer of hope when they scored a fantastic free-kick with 13 minutes to play, however Gangwon held on and the claimed a famous victory.
Seongnam dropped from the Champions League and title race to relegation in a few months.
Game was live on KBS1 and via Naver Sports.
Finally
For information on the all of our previous K League Round by Round Previews and More: CLICK HERE
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Tim
Modern Seoul
tim@modernseoul.org
Modern Seoul 