A look at the club’s forward line revealed why the heavy-smoking coach allowed Ahn to ignore the Seongnam exit on the Gyeonbu expressway and continue driving south for just a few more miles.
2006 K-League top scorer Woo Indian Matka Sung-yong may have departed but the deadly Mota remains. Also vying for a starting place were $1 million former Romanian international Adrian Naega, Ahn Hyo-yeon and the tricky Brazilian Itamar.
Suddenly, however, the seven-time champions sprung into action like the mythical animal that appears on the club logo – Pegasus.
First to arrive was Choi Sung-kuk – $2 million was enough to persuade 2005 champions Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I to wave goodbye to their diminutive attacker.
The year 2006 was a strange season for “Little Maradona.” Like the rest of Ulsan’s strikers, his appearances on the score sheet were all too rare but despite his lack of goals, he was widely held to have enjoyed an impressive season, as a recall to the national team demonstrated.
Equally out of the blue was the $2.4 million that the club splashed on Kim Dong-hyun.
Still only 22, the striker has already played in four different countries, almost as many as the well-traveled Ahn Jung-hwan. His career started in Japan with Oita Trinita before he moved to the K-League and Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2004.
First team opportunities were limited at the club and a year later, he was off to Braga in Portugal. The pattern continued in 2006 and the new year saw a new club in the shape of Russian outfit Rubin Kazan.
The big attacker made it back onto the national team for the experimental friendly against Ghana in October, in which he scored the Taeguk Warriors’ only goal in a 3-1 defeat.
With other players like Han Dong-won signing on the dotted line, Seongnam look well-equipped for the new season’s two-pronged campaign. Not only will the coach be looking for an eighth title, the club has some unfinished business in the Asian Champions League after being defeated in the finals in 2004.
Domestic matters come first, however, and there will be some fierce competition at the top.
Ulsan may have lost Choi to Seongnam but 2006 top scorer Woo Sung-young came the other way. The 33 year-old is one of a number of new arrivals at the south-eastern club.
Around $2 million was needed to bring Oh Jang-eun to Munsu Stadium.The midfielder starred in the second half of last season with Daegu FC and was rewarded with a place on the national team. He will be joined in the southeast by Hyun Young-min, who has returned to his homeland after a year in Russia with Zenit St. Petersburg.
sattamatka 