Flying Seol

Kee H. Seol of Anderlecht, a Belgian team, helped his team beat Rumanian Rapid Bucuresti with game-tying assist and game-winning goal in the second round of the preliminaries of the Europeans Champions League 2003-2004 held yesterday (Korean time) in Brussel.

Seol assisted a goal in the latter half, which tied the game, and then helped his team win the game with his game-winning goal.

Seol for the first time scored two goals as Korean player in the League. He last scored a goal in the Europeans Championships League on August 9, 2001.

Anderlecht drew the first round 0-0. Therefore, it could have disqualified for the third round if it had lost or drawn since the victory, in that situation, would go to a team taking an away.

Anderlecht allowed two consecutive goals at `42 and `43. High temperature reaching up to 39oC disrupted the game twice. Up to that point, it seemed that Anderlecht was not likely to win.

Getting into the latter half, with morale boosted by fans` enthusiastic cheering for Anderlecht, it began to catch up.

After the first goal at `51, Seol`s pass led to the game-tying goal.

Then, at `75, Seol headed a corner kick from the left into the net, and shook it, sprinting up like a dolphin in the middle of the box.

Aiming at advance to the "Big League" at the end of this season, Seol confessed later, "I thought we would lose the game. We were two goals behind by the end of the first. When we got the game-drawing goal, I began to feel confident. It was a game I would never forget for the rest of my life.

Seol`s team will take on a Polish team in the third round.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com