Defending Champion Jeonbuk Fails to Reach Korea Cup Quarterfinals After Losing to Third-Tier Team

Jeonbuk, the defending champion of the Korea Cup, saw its journey toward consecutive tournament titles end in vain after a penalty shootout defeat against a third-tier team, Dangjin.

Jeonbuk suffered a 3-5 loss in a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw through extra time against the K3 League side Dangjin Citizen FC in the Round of 16 home match of the Hana Bank Korea Cup held at Jeonju World Cup Stadium today (19th).

Last year, Jeonbuk achieved a "double" by winning both the KLeague 1 and the Korea Cup.

However, in the current season, which began under manager Jung Jung-yong, the team is currently in fourth place in the league and recently suffered its first consecutive losses of the season by conceding three goals in each of its last two matches, making a turnaround necessary. Today's defeat has made the situation even worse.

With a K League 1 match against Ulsan HD coming up on the 22nd, Jeonbuk operated a rotation by entirely leaving key players such as Lee Seung-woo, Motta, Kim Jin-gyu, and Lee Dong-jun off the roster.

The team tripped over its own feet due to defensive mistakes.

In the 11th minute of the first half, amid a flurry of hesitant passing errors in the defensive zone, Jeonbuk conceded the opening goal to Dangjin's Ryu Hyun-jun. Although Italo leveled the score in the 20th minute of the first half, Jeonbuk gave up another goal due to a defensive blunder 5 minutes into the second half.

The trouble started when a defender failed to properly clear a cross coming from the right.

Han Seok-jin equalized, but Jeonbuk ultimately failed to turn the match around and became the victim of an upset after the penalty shootout.

The third kicker Kim Ha-jun's shot being blocked by opposing goalkeeper Choi Young-eun proved to be painful.

(Photo courtesy of the Korea Football Association, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.