Jeonnam Dragons made South Korean football history on Saturday, outlasting Daegu FC in the FA Cup final to become the first second-division club to win the largest national tournament.
Jeonnam prevailed over Daegu 4-3 in the second leg of the FA Cup final at DGB Daegu Bank Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Jeonnam lost the opening leg 1-0 at home on Nov. 24, and the aggregate score was all even at 4-4. However, by bagging four goals in Daegu in Saturday's slugfest, Jeonnam held the decisive edge in away goals for their fourth FA Cup title.
By winning the FA Cup, Jeonnam also clinched a spot in the group stage of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League for 2022. They're the first K League 2 club to qualify for the continent's top annual club competition.
"My players exceeded my expectations all season long, and it's great to finish off the season with this victory," Jeonnam head coach Jeon Kyeong-joon said. "I can't wait for the AFC Champions League next year. I think it will be a major source of motivation for our team."
Daegu went down a man in the 25th minute when defender Hong Jeong-un was sent off for elbowing midfielder Hwang Ki-wook. Jeonnam capitalized on extra space thanks to defender Park Chan-yong's opening goal in the 39th minute.
But the lead barely lasted two minutes, as Daegu's forward Cesinha evened the score with a highlight-reel goal.
From just outside the box, Cesinha took a pass from Bruno Lamas with his chest, and bounced the ball once more off his forehead before volleying it into the bottom left corner to tie the score.
But Cesinha was at the wrong end of Jeonnam's next scoring play during injury time. Jang Seong-jai took a corner from the left side and Cesinha ended up deflecting the ball into his own net. Goalkeeper Choi Young-eun tried to make a desperate save but the ball had already crossed the goal line. Jeonnam's Go Tae-won, who put the ball back into the net after it had bounced off Choi, was credited with the goal.
Edgar got a goal back for Daegu five minutes into the second half, as he headed home a cross by Jeong Tae-wook.
The match was far from over. Jeonnam reclaimed their lead at 3-2 four minutes later, thanks to a right-footed volley by Oleg Zoteev. The midfielder pounced on the loose ball after defender Kim Jae-woo failed to clear the ball out of the box.
Daegu made it a 3-3 match in the 67th minute. Jeonnam goalkeeper Park Jun-huk mishandled the clearing attempt by his own defender Go Tae-won and dropped the ball right in front of the net. Tsubasa Nishi stood alone in the goal mouth and slotted the ball home with his left knee.
Daegu now led 4-3 in the aggregate, and Jeonnam lost midfielder Jeong Ho-jin to his second yellow card of the match.
But Jeonnam had one more goal left in them, and it came in the 83rd minute, with Jeong Jae-hee scoring with his left foot from just inside the box for a 4-3 Jeonbuk lead.
There was one final bit of drama in the dying seconds of the match. With Daegu pushing for a last-gasp goal, forward Edgar fell inside the box after making contact with defender Go Tae-won. Referee Kim Jong-hyuk initially awarded Daegu a penalty but the call was overturned following a video review.
Jeon, the Jeonnam coach, said he was a nervous wreck waiting for the final decision on the possible penalty. If the call had stood and Daegu had converted the penalty, then Daegu would have won the FA Cup instead.
"We'd worked so hard all day, and it would have been devastating to lose this match on that call," Jeon said. "I felt like I'd gone to hell and back."
Jeonnam then held on for dear life to secure their momentous victory.
Jeong Jae-hee, who scored the winning goal and assisted on the match's first goal, was named the FA Cup's most valuable player.
This was Jeong's first match back with Jeonnam since being discharged from the military club Gimcheon Sangmu. And Jeong helped Gimcheon win the K League 2 trophy last month. By capping off a dramatic win on Saturday, Jeong became the first player to win a K League title and an FA Cup with different clubs in the same year.
"I can't tell you which title is better," Jeong said with a smile. "They're both incredible."
This was the highest-scoring match ever in an FA Cup final. Jeonnam also became the first team to win the FA Cup after dropping the first match of a two-legged final.
Source: Yonhap News Agency