Seoul's Moving Wall: Kim Joo-sung, the strongest center back duo in K League 1 who earn sweet points

Apr 10, 2025

Seoul's Moving Wall Kim Joo-sung, the strongest center back duo in K League 1 who earn sweet points



Seoul's Moving Wall Kim Joo-sung, the strongest center back duo in K League 1 who earn sweet points
In the seventh round of the 'Hana Bank K League 1 2025' held over the weekend, five out of 12 teams formed a centerback combination 'foreign-native' players. Anyang Thomas-Lee Chang-yong, Gangwon Kangtoji-Shin Min-ha, Gwangju Bruno-An Young-gyu, Daegu Cao-Park Jin-young, and Seoul Yazan-Kim Joo-sung guarded the back door. Among them, the combination of Seoul's 'Jordan National University-Korea National University', which led to a scoreless draw against Ulsan at Ulsan Munsu Stadium on the 5th, was the most noticeable. Seoul gave Ulsan the lead with a 37-63 (%) share, but recorded its fourth clean sheet (no-go game) of the season and won one valuable point. It is the first time in 12 games that Seoul has not given a run against Ulsan in a 0-0 draw in July 2021. Seoul remained in third place with three wins, three draws and one loss and 12 points.

Seoul, which has made 14 clean sheets (0.37) in 38 K League games in the 2024 season, has already played four scoreless games (0.57) in seven games since the opening of this season. They are tied for first place in the clean sheet with Gimcheon in second place and Ulsan in fifth place. Of the 12 teams, 'No Run Face' is the best, finishing four games without losing a point, excluding one of the last five games. He is also tied for first in the lowest number of runs (5) category along with Gimcheon. In Seoul, the clean sheet per game remained at 0.2 times for six years from 2018 to 2023, which is considered the 'dark era'. The clean sheet never exceeded 10 times. After appointing head coach Kim Ki-dong last year, he ranked fourth in the final by injecting a sense of stability (minimum number of goals lost) and entered the top split for the first time in five years. Major players have doubled their sense of stability as they enter the second year of Kim Ki-dong soccer' that has completely adapted to 'Kim Ki-dong soccer'.

Yazan and Kim Joo-sung are at the center. Since his official debut in Seoul in August last year, Yazan has played in 19 K League games and contributed more than half of his scoreless nine times. In the 19 games Yazan played, the team only allowed 14 runs and 0.74 runs per game. Yazan, who weighs 1m87 and 86kg, has the appearance of a 'hexagonal centerback' from the aerial ball fight to the interpersonal mark, defense reading and back space coverings, and the build-up required for the centerback of modern football. In the soccer field, there is an evaluation that it is the best in history among foreign center backs who have entered the K-League. Seoul scored 14 runs and an average of about 0.74 runs in 19 games in which Yazan played until the match against Ulsan after manager Kim took office in the 2024 season. This is in contrast to the record of 33 runs and an average of 1.27 runs in 26 games without Yazan at the same time. Seoul Youth Kim Joo-sung returned to his team after being discharged from the military in Gimcheon in 2022 and often showed signs of anxiety, but his skills are improving day by day as he stepped up as a Yazan partner. Kim Joo-sung ranks 15th overall with 7,955 points in the K-League's power ranking Adidas Point and No. 1 in the Seoul team. The defensive points (4640 points), which reflect various defensive indicators such as interception, tackle, ground competition, and aerial ball competition, are the highest. Successful aerial ball competition will be 4th place (31 times) and clearing joint 9th place (36 times). The number of passes (439) is also fourth overall.




In addition, veteran fullback Kim Jin-soo, active fullback Choi Joon, and stable goalkeeper Kang Hyun-moo helped build the iron fortress. If the Seoul defense plays another scoreless defense in the eighth round of the K League 1 against the leading Daejeon Hana at 4:30 p.m. on the 12th at Seoul World Cup Stadium, it will be called the strongest defense in the league.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.