Sangju Sangmu vs. Daegu – K League 1, October 17, 2020

Even though there are still three games to go in the season, this fixture may end up being something a non-event as Daegu has already qualified for the AFC Champions League and Sangju Sangmu has nothing left to play for either.

But there is still professional pride and both sets of players should be looking to finish the campaign off on a good note.

BetOnline has Daegu as the slight favorites to come away from this one with the points but, even though I agree that it should be a closely fought battle, I would be expecting the army team to have the better chance of winning. There has been a commendable discipline about the Sangju Sangmu squad this season and I feel it will be more inclined to go for the victory on Saturday.

With just the three games of the season to go, it looks as though Sangju Sangmu will finish this season in a very creditable fourth place. Considering this is a club that knew that it would be relegated before a ball was even kicked, that has to be something to applaud.

The army team has already played both Ulsan and Jeonbuk during the Championship stage, so now can relax and face the ‘lesser’ teams to see out what has been a very good season. The 4-1 defeat against the Horangi last time out would have been a disappointment for manager Kim Tae-wan, so we could see a fired up Sangju Sangmu eleven here.

It will be interesting to see whether there is the same kind of concentration and intensity from the Daegu squad though. With Gwangju ten points back with just three games to play, AFC Champions League soccer is assured for next season already – and there is no chance of improving its status to a group stage berth now.

The draw with Ulsan a few weeks ago was a very good performance from the Sky Blues – and there is definitely the talent in the squad to come away from the Sangju Civic Stadium with three points. It just remains to be seen whether Lee Byung-kuen can motivate his players enough from now until the end of the season.

If there is one team in K League 1 that will never not give 100% it is Sangju Sangmu. Kim Tae-wan has done an excellent job of making sure that his players give it their all every week – even when the squad changes dramatically during the season. I’m not sure that Daegu will be quite as up for it as the home side, so I’m going for a Sangju Sangmu win here.