SEOUL– Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors erased an early two-goal deficit to play FC Seoul to a 2-2 draw in the opening leg of the FA Cup football final Thursday.
All four goals came in a wildly entertaining first half at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the capital city. The second leg is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at Jeonbuk’s home, Jeonju World Cup Stadium in the southern city of Jeonju.
Jeonbuk are going for their fifth FA Cup title, which would tie them with Suwon Samsung Bluewings for most of all time. FC Seoul have won two FA Cups so far.
The away goals rule will be in effect, meaning, in case of a tie after the second match, the team with more goals scored in an away leg will be declared the champions.
Ki Sung-yueng opened the scoring for FC Seoul less than three minutes in, with a right-footed shot from outside the box.
Jeonbuk thought they had tied the score just after the half-hour mark on Song Min-kyu’s goal, only to have it erased on an offside call following a video review.
FC Seoul went up 2-0 on Cho Young-wook’s 37th-minute header, set up by a Kim Jin-ya cross.
Jeonbuk finally scored one that counted in the 42nd minute, with Mo Barrow fighting off multiple defenders for a left-footed shot that cut the deficit to 2-1.
Then during stoppage time, Jeonbuk were awarded a penalty when Kim Jin-ya was called for a handball violation in the box. The FC Seoul defender got his hand on Song Min-kyu’s header attempt, and Cho Gue-sung converted the spot kick to tie things up at 2-2 going into the second half.
Goalkeepers came up huge in the latter half. FC Seoul’s Yang Han-been denied Kim Bo-kyung on a mid-range strike three minutes into the second half, and foiled Barrow’s attempts for his second goal in the 50th and 52nd minute.
Yang’s Jeonbuk counterpart, Song Bum-keun, turned aside a hard shot from Park Dong-jin in the 74th minute.
Source: Yonhap News Agency