SEOUL-- Two teams from South Korea's K League 1 survived the group stage at the top Asian club tournament this year, but after one knockout round, only one of them will be left standing.
That is because Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Daegu FC will face each other in the round of 16 at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League.
The all-Korean showdown will kick off at 5 p.m. Thursday at Urawa Komaba Stadium in Saitama, Japan. The Japanese city is serving as the centralized venue for all round-of-16 matches for the East Region, with teams from South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia taking the field.
Jeonbuk are still in position to pull off a "treble," or winning three major competitions in one season, but they might also walk away empty-handed.
Jeonbuk are in second place in the K League 1 with 49 points, six behind the leaders Ulsan Hyundai FC, following a 3-1 loss to Incheon United on Saturday.
Jeonbuk have made it to the semifinals at the Korean FA Cup, where they will face Ulsan on Oct. 5.
At the prematch press conference held Wednesday, Jeonbuk head coach Kim Sang-sik said the objective is to go deeper in the AFC tournament than last year, when they were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
"Rather than thinking about matches ahead, we will keep our focus on Daegu FC tomorrow," Kim said, according to a transcript provided by the K League. "We have to minimize our mistakes and apply pressure on Daegu. They have been great in set pieces and we have to be mindful of that."
Jeonbuk captain Kim Jin-su chimed in: "I have no doubts about the talent of this team. We have players who have represented the country or who will be on the national team in the future. We just have to play as one."
Daegu FC will also play in the semifinals at the FA Cup, but it has been a far different story in the K League 1.
They are winless in their past 10 league matches, with five draws and five losses. Following a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Ulsan on Saturday, which put them in ninth place and in danger of relegation, Daegu head coach Alexandre Gama stepped down.
Choi Won-kwon, Gama's top assistant, will serve as the caretaker boss until Daegu hire a full-time replacement.
Choi said at the prematch presser that he hopes the AFC match will be "a turning point" for Daegu's season.
"We can't make any drastic changes at this point, but I've had a lot of conversations with the players, trying to find answers," Choi said. "We've come a long way from being a second-division club to being a team that knows how to win. I am sure they will show their winning DNA tomorrow."
Kim, the Jeonbuk head coach, said he is wary of Daegu because Gama's recent resignation could be the rally point for them. Choi said the abrupt coaching change before the AFC knockout match was far from ideal, but he added that his faith in his team hasn't wavered.
"Jeonbuk will be a tough team to handle but we have beaten them before and we know those players very well," Choi said. "If our players can put their mind to it, I think we can surprise some people tomorrow."
This will be the first meeting between Jeonbuk and Daegu at the AFC tournament. Their most recent showdown in the K League 1 came on June 25, when the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
The quarterfinals will be in August for the East Region.
The round of 16 for the West Region, involving teams from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates, will take place in February next year in a location to be determined later. Those teams will play their quarterfinal matches in February, too.
The championship final will be played over two legs on Feb. 19 and 26.
Source: Yonhap News Agency