Taggart set to shine again but Davidson likely to have last laugh

The 2020 K League season kicks off on Friday evening with Adam Taggart ready to showcase his goalscoring ability to the watching world, but it is likelier that Jason Davidson and Ulsan Hyundai will be celebrating when the season ends.

Taggart and Aussie compatriot Terry Antonis will be in action as Suwon Bluewings take on Jeonbuk Motors in the season opener.

It is one of South Korea’s juiciest fixtures and not just because Jeonju is the home of a marvellous dish called bibimbap and welcomes visitors from a place famous for kalbi, a version of the world-renowned Korean BBQ.

It should be - despite the empty Jeonju World Cup Stadium - a fine feast for starving football fans everywhere.

The Asian competition will be, for a time, the biggest league in action in a football world that has ground to a halt due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Broadcasting rights have been sold around the world from Croatia to China, as well as Australia.

What these new fans will see is a league that may have been dominated by Jeonbuk in recent years, but remains full of ups and downs.

Suwon are proof of that. Not that long ago, the Bluewings were the biggest team in Korea, one of the biggest in Asia, and a visit to the Big Bird Stadium - a 40-minute bus ride from Gangnam Station in southern Seoul - was a great experience with big and passionate crowds.

Jeonbuk were a middling power, a cup team but not much of a force in the league.

Things have changed. Suwon have not lifted the title since 2008, a time when they aggressively called themselves the ‘Football Capital’ - a barb at bitter rivals FC Seoul.

The Bluewings have faded on and off the field with the stadium no longer the cauldron it once was.

Jeonbuk have become one of the best in Asia and have won the league for five of the past six years, with the failure in 2016 coming down to having nine points deducted for alleged interference with referees.

As the two teams have passed each other heading in opposite directions, a healthy dislike has developed and if Suwon can get a good result, it bodes well for their season.

All hope that it will be better than 2019. The only bright spot then, apart from the FA Cup win, was the 20-goal Taggart haul that helped the Blues steer clear of relegation.

Suwon may not be the force of old but finishing eighth - in a 12-team league that has been cut to 27 games (it will split into two groups of six after 22 games) this season - is not on. 

Coach Lee Lim-saeng, whose job in his first season in charge was saved by the cup win, has much to do. Fans are more worried about Taggart leaving than Lee. 

A big jump in places is possible in a league that, despite Jeonbuk’s dominance, can be unpredictable.

In 2018, Gyeongnam FC finished second and were relegated the following year, along with Jeju United, a team that had been runners-up in 2017.

Ulsan Hyundai will be wary then but are much likelier to go from second to top rather than second to bottom.

The title is well within reach. The Tigers, based in Korea’s shipbuilding capital down in the southeast, should have won it last season but collapsed at the end.

A win against Jeonbuk in the penultimate match would have sealed a first title since 2005 but a draw left them just needing a point on the final day.

Ulsan, who lost the 2013 title with the last kick of the season, didn’t get it. 

It is time to put that disappointment behind them.

Jason Davidson arrived from Perth in the middle of the season but should get the chance to make a bigger impact this time around.

Ulsan have lost key midfielders Kim Bo-kyung (to Jeonbuk) and the talented Manchester City loanee Mix Diskerud, but the addition of former Bolton Wanderers and Crystal Palace winger Lee Chong-yung and midfielders Yoon Bitgaram and Koh Myung-jin should help fill the gap.

Ulsan and Jeonbuk were well clear at the top last season but if any team can join them this season it should be Pohang Steelers.

The three-time Asian champions finished the season strongly and only missed out on the top three and the AFC Champions League on goal difference.

Not having that continental distraction, assuming it takes place, could be a domestic plus for promising young coach Kim Ki-dong.

The club seems happy with new midfielder Brandon O’Neill and if the former Sydney star hits the ground running, then Pohang, who will also be looking forward to full campaigns from impressive 2019 mid-season signings Stanislav Iljutcenko and Aleksandar Palocevic, can mount a genuine challenge.

But it is Ulsan and Davidson, just 50 kilometres to the south, who have the best chance of lifting the trophy when this delayed season finally ends.

For now, though, the start has never been so eagerly awaited.