Jeju United FC v Pohang Steelers — prediction, stats and goal analysis

K League 1 · Saturday, 18 July 2026. Final score 2–1 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 42% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals42%58%Under
Over 3.5 goals21%79%no pick
Both teams to score49%51%No

The result model puts Jeju United FC at 24%, the draw at 29% and Pohang Steelers at 47%, from expected goals of 0.88 and 1.33.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. K League 1 has produced over 2.5 goals in 46% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Jeju United FC have 5 in 17 this season (3 of 9 at home), Pohang Steelers 3 in 17 (3 of 9 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 39% and 34%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 17 and 17 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 42% and 39%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 42%.

Head to head. These sides have met 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 29%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 41%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 38%, from expected goals of 0.88 for Jeju United FC and 1.33 for Pohang Steelers. Folding in 30% of that view gives 40%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 42%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Jeju United FC1729%0%47%
Pohang Steelers1718%12%29%

Head to head

11 Apr 26Pohang Steelers 0–2 Jeju United FCU2.5
21 Sept 25Pohang Steelers 1–0 Jeju United FCU2.5
21 Jun 25Pohang Steelers 2–1 Jeju United FCO2.5
20 Apr 25Jeju United FC 2–0 Pohang SteelersU2.5
13 Jul 24Jeju United FC 2–1 Pohang SteelersO2.5
12 May 24Pohang Steelers 1–1 Jeju United FCU2.5

More: Jeju United FC season stats · Pohang Steelers season stats · K League 1 table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.