 |
| Melbourne Victory v Suwon Bluewings |
In partnership with K-League United, East Asian Soccer has adopted the writer’s chat format for this special feature.
First off East Asian Soccer Editor Lew Dub fires the questions at Suwon Bluewingsexpert Scott Whitelock.
1. Most Australians don’t know much about Suwon Bluewings. Can you tell us a little bit about the club’s pedigree and the kind of support they get?
Historically, Suwon Bluewings have been one of the strongest teams in Korea. They have won the K League on 4 separate occasions and have also finished as runners up on 4 occasions. They have also previously lifted the Asian Champions League twice. Backed by one of Korea’s biggest conglomerates they have been one of the more wealthy Korean teams in years gone by, however, in recent year this funding has been pulled and Suwon Bluewings’ power appears to diminish season on season. Their last title was won in 2008 and it might be a few more years until the next one is won.
2. What kind of football should Melbourne Victory fans be expecting on Tuesday night?
That is a very good question, and one that I would really love to answer. Their 3 games so far, this season, have seen very contrasting performances. The first 3 halves of ACL football that they played saw play with a confidence and swagger that belied the young age of the squad. The passing was smooth and quick and they dominated Gamba Osaka and Shanghai SIPG, their respective opponents. Suwon attempted to keep the ball for long periods and then hit their opponents with quick attacking bursts down the wings. It was very pleasing to watch and the game plan was superbly orchestrated by their holding midfielder Park Hyun-bom. However, the latter 3 halves of football that Suwon have played in their fledgling 2016 campaign have been anything but pleasing. The passing fluency has all but vanished and far too often promising attacks are petering out because of a lack of fire power up front.
Their last game, against Seongnam FC demonstrated everything that is wrong with Suwon’s squad this year. For large parts of the game, Suwon controlled the ball and the midfield trio of Ko Cha-won, Kwon Chang-hoon and Park Hyun-bum stroked the ball around with consummate ease. But for all Suwon’s midfield dominance, they rarely registered any sort of threat on the Seongnam goal. Infact, despite having the majority of possession it wasn’t until the 41st minute that Suwon registered a shot on target. At the other end of the pitch it was more of the same, with all 4 defenders showing a significant lack of quality and in the 2nd half Seongnam looked like they would score with every attack. The veteran centre back, Lee Jung-soo, making his debut looked considerably out of place, losing possession a number of times and showing a distinct lack of pace.
We are hoping for a more attacking performance on Tuesday and hopefully Melbourne will face a tougher challenge than Seongnam did.
3. Santos has served Suwon well for three seasons, but what can you tell us about new Brazilian import Hygor?
Read more at our new site:
