Ulsan's top trio take Asian Champions League trophy to South Korea

Won final against Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia 3-0 to win the tournament for the first time.

Ulsan Hyundai defender Kwak Tae-hwi celebrates scoring the opener against Al Ahli yesterday. Jung Yeon-je / AFP

ULSAN, SOUTH KOREA // Nine successive wins, 27 goals scored, unbeaten in the tournament -nobody can claim that South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai are not the deserved winners of the 2012 Asian Champions League and their coronation as confirmed with a 3-0 win over Al Ahli yesterday.

The few hundred Al Ahli fans who spent the hours before the match tasting the wares at Lotteria, a popular fast food chain near the stadium, had made the long trip over from Saudi Arabia in high spirits - after all, the club had paid. Clad in green and white scarves, all predicted a win. All were wrong.

The journey back home to Jeddah will seem much longer, though the last 20 minutes of the match when Ulsan were threatening to run riot must have seemed pretty interminable.

The 42,000 home fans enjoyed it. And even before the final whistle sounded, they were saluting the team, champions of Asia for the first time.

Perhaps the one most deserving of plaudits was Lee Keun-ho. The South Korean international, 27, was named player of the tournament a fitting prize for a series of impressive performances. It was especially meaningful, as the international star is about to start his two-year military service. That will be delayed a little - the Fifa Club World Cup comes first.

"I can't express how happy I am," said Lee after the match. "I am thinking about this year, we worked so hard. It is great that I could contribute to the team and the success. I didn't expect to win this award, it is the biggest prize in my career. It has been a great year.

"The military service is something that every Korean man has to do. My family and friends have done it and now it is my turn. I am just happy that I could have this success in my first final just before it starts."

Kwak Tae-hwi opened the scoring after 13 minutes with a goal that Ulsan's players can score with their eyes closed. A floated free kick from Kim Sung-yeung sat up invitingly for the big centre-back who nodded into the net.

The game settled down into a style that could not be described as a great advert for Asian football. Long balls, misplaced passes, poor control and all-round sloppiness was the order of much of the game, especially from the visitors, who showed little of the performance that eliminated fellow Saudis Al Ittihad in the semi-final.

The second goal came midway through the second half. Big Kim Shin-wook headed a cross back across the face of goal for Brazilian striker Rafinha to head home from close range. After that, it was a question of how many Ulsan would score and Kim Sung-yeung made no mistake with a third to send the fans wild with delight.

If the Al Ahli fans were disappointed so was the Saudi press pack, continually prodding coach Karel Jarolim as to whether he had made any mistakes, the inference that he had made quite a few were clear, especially about his substitutions that, the scribes thought, came too late.

With questions and answers being translated from Czech to Arabic to English to Korean, it was not the quickest of media conferences but Jarolim admitted that his team did not handle the aerial threat posed by Ulsan, especially Kim Shin-wook. In the end, however, he had few complaints.

"Ulsan are a strong team, we did our best but they deserved to win the match," Jarolim said. "We didn't perform as well as we could. We missed opportunities in the first half. After the first goal, we had a few chances to get at least a goal in the first half but were unable to take them."

"In the second half, I was planning to make a substitution but was surprised when Ulsan scored a second. After that, we lost our concentration and we didn't focus well and Ulsan took control of the ball and the match and went on to score the third goal."

Now Ulsan go onto the Club World Cup and a game with Monterrey of Mexico. Win that and the prize is a date with Chelsea, the English Premier League side and European champions.

"We have to think about the K-league before we think about that tournament," said Kwak after lifting the trophy. "But of course, we are excited about the chance to play at the Club World Cup against some of the best players in the world."

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