Group H: Late goal seals Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors win over Hoang Anh Gia Lai
Substitute Moon Seon-min scored three minutes into injury time to claim a 1-0 victory for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on Friday as the two-time winners maintained their unbeaten start to Group H of the AFC Champions League™ 2022 in dramatic fashion.
25/04/2022 09:02:59
Moon struck with time ticking down to move Jeonbuk onto seven points from their first three games and into pole position in the standings as the group phase reaches the halfway stage.
HAGL, meanwhile, remain bottom of the table after being denied a second draw of the campaign and the Vietnamese side’s hopes of a place in the knockout rounds suffered a major blow due to Moon’s late strike.
Kiatisuk Senamuang had kept his team largely intact following their Matchday Two draw with Sydney FC, only replacing Tran Minh Vuong with Jefferson Baiano.
Jeonbuk, meanwhile, made five changes to the side that defeated Yokohama F Marinos, with goal scorer Stanislav Iljutcenko replaced by Kim Jing-yu.
However, Iljutcenko was introduced within 20 minutes of the start after Song Ming-kyu was stretchered off as Jeonbuk dominated without finding a way through the Vietnamese side’s well-drilled defence.
Hong Jeong-ho headed over the bar with seven minutes on the clock while Kim Jing-yu was unable to finish off a neat passing move on the edge of the HAGL area, shooting into the legs of Huynh Tuan Linh.
Nguyen Phong Hong Duy had a sight of goal for HAGL with an effort from distance on the run that offered little to trouble Jeonbuk goalkeeper Lee Bum-soo in a first half that saw limited penalty area action.
Jeonbuk looked the more likely to score and twice threatened early in the second half through Kim Bo-kyung, who saw his diving header in the 56th minute kept out by Tuan Linh before another effort from the Korea Republic international missed the target.
Jefferson Baiano’s effort from distance was high and wide on the hour mark as HAGL’s frustrations continued while Moon shot through the legs of his marker at the other end, only for the ball to roll into the arms of the HAGL goalkeeper.
With eight minutes remaining Nguyen Cong Phuong found himself with space in the Jeonbuk penalty area to put HAGL ahead but the Vietnam international’s shot was comfortably gathered by Lee Bum-soo.
Iljutcenko missed a late chance as he shot wide after a corner, but Moon was on hand in the third minute of injury time to confidently smash in the winner from the edge of the area and keep Jeonbuk on track for the next round.
Source: AFC
