A weekend of derbies in East Asia produced a superb football action.
Suwon Samsung Bluewings and FC Seoul's 'Super Match' ended in a six-goal thriller, and in Japan, the Osaka Derby called the great comeback of J League 1. Meanwhile, Mongolia and Cambodia also resumed their football activity.
K League
If you ask what match is the fans' 'must-watch' in K League, almost all of them would answer: 'Super Match'. The Korean clásico between FC Seoul and Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
Even after relocating to Seoul, FC Seoul kept their rivalry with Suwon Bluewings which was created during their Anyang-era.
In these games, stadiums are usually full as fans give their very best to cheer for their team and tease the opposition. Recently, there has been a criticism of both teams' recent performance. Seoul, before they won against Incheon United on the 9th matchday, had lost five consecutive league matches. Suwon has only won two out of nine games. Some reports even criticized the value of the 'Super Match', in the current form of both sides.
But that negative anticipation completely has gone with the opening whistle. In the 11th minute, the hosts, Suwon, grabbed the lead via Adam Taggart's penalty followed by Yun Young-sun's handball inside the box. Seoul, however, managed to equalize in the 29th minute with Park Chu-young's strike after the deflection of Han Seung-kyu's shot.
The Socceroo, Taggart, then shined again for Suwon in the 41st minute. Ko Seung-beom's shot in the box was saved by Yu Sang-hun, but Taggart was there on the rebound, and comfortably put it in the net. Right before the end of the first half, Kim Kun-hee increased Suwon's lead with a left-footed effort that seemed to terminate Seoul chances in the occasion.
Guess again. The second half was all FC Seoul. After a compact build-up, Cho Young-wook, the South Korean youth international, struck into the far-left corner in the 57th minute. After three minutes, Osmar Barba's free-kick, which was saved by No Dong-geon, was found by Ko Kwang-min and he levelled the game again. An outstanding 3-3 thriller!
As no more goals followed after, both teams had to settle for a point.
The night at 'Big Bird' Stadium in Suwon was undoubtedly the wildest night in this K League season so far, although the stadium was empty. Notwithstanding the entertaining match, the 9th placed Seoul and 10th placed Suwon still have to find a way to bounce back and save their season.
K League 2
In K League 2, Chungnam Asan FC finally recorded their first victory of the season against Gyeongnam FC. Swedish striker Philip Hellquist scored the lead from the spot in the 40th minute, and former AFC Tubize winger Lee Jae-gun extended it in the 56th minute.
Ex-South Korean u23 international Baek Sung-dong scored in a header in the 70th minute, but Gyeongnam were one short to come back. 2-1 to Asan in full time. It was not only the first win of the season for Asan, but also their first win in history after the takeover of Asan City Council. All the team celebrated this historic step at their home Yi Sun-sin Stadium by taking photos and hugging each other.
J League
Following the restart of J2 League last week, J1 League matches took place on Saturday. What dragged the most attention was the Osaka derby between Gamba and Cerezo, which took place at Panasonic Stadium Suita. Visitors Cerezo beat Gamba 2-1 with Hiroaki Okuno's goal before the first half and Yusuke Maruhashi's fantastic left-footed long-range strike in the 62nd minute. Ademilson managed to get a goal six minutes later with a penalty, but that was it for Gamba.
Gamba's midfielder Yasuhito Endo turned the most appeared player in J1 League with 632 games after the match.
Meanwhile, in Yokohama, Thai international Chanatip Songkrasin and Jamaican-Japanese Musashi Suzuki provide Consadole Sapporo with a 2-1 victory over the newly-promoted side Yokohama FC. Two goals were both from Musashi Suzuki in the 3rd and 53rd minute and granted by Chanatip Songkrasin's beautiful passes. The first, came through Songkrasin's cross from the left flank, although it didn't count as an assist for the Thai Messi. The second goal in after a top pass to Suzuki. Kazunari Ichimi, the Gamba Osaka loanee, scored one for Yokohama in the 16th to temporarily equalize.
Mongolia and Cambodia
On 1 July, all football competitions in Mongolia has kicked off, and Mongolian Super Cup was the first major event that took place. As expected, no spectators were allowed, and players kept their distance from each other even when they were taking a team photo. Ulaanbaatar City FC, the league champions, and Khaan Khuns Erchim FC, the cup winner, fought for the Super Cup. The draw was identical as 2018's edition when Ulaanbaatar City lifted their first Super Cup trophy in their history after beating Erchim 4-2. But this year, the result went utterly different. Erchim hammered the City 4-0 thanks to Tsedenbal Tumenjargal's hat trick and smiled at the end with their 8th Super Cup victory. It was also the first win and trophy after the merger between Khaan Khuns Titem and Erchim.
Cambodia, as well, restarted its league with empty stadiums and a shocking 10-0 scoreline. Bati Youth Football Academy - a team only consisted of young Cambodian players - were hammered by Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng, the league leader. Brazilian striker Pedro Augusto and Cameroonian import, Jean Mbarga, both struck a hat trick respectively. Japanese midfielder Daisuke Kobayashi, ex-Internacional youth Thiago Santos and Cambodian international Sareth Krya scored a goal each. Despite this heavy defeat, Bati youth somehow avoided sinking to the last to the bottom of the table.
