When a club is demoted to a lower league, it usually falls into a chaos. Even prestigious overseas clubs with a long history often fail to rebound once they suffer from relegation. The same is true of Korea. The fact that traditional teams that were demoted from K League 1 to K League 2 rarely get promoted and have been fighting hard for years shows.
There are some exceptions, however. Although the K-League 2 has yet to beat the first-round robin, some teams have been remarkably aggressive this season. Incheon United suffered a bitter taste of direct demotion last season. On Thursday, the team brought Gimpo FC home, and defeated the team 3-0, continuing a five-game winning streak. Three points in three consecutive games are a bonus.
He had eight wins, one draw and one loss in 10 matches with 25 points. In the process, he scored 19 goals and gave up five goals. He scores almost two goals per game and concede a goal every two matches. This is the perfect balance of offense and defense with the most goals scored and the least number of goals lost in the league.
Indeed, Incheon's performance was expected even before the season opened. Despite the first demotion since its foundation, most of the main players kept the team intact. Major players such as Lee Myung-joo, Shin Jin-ho, Kim Do-hyuk, Moon Ji-hwan and Kim Gun-hee, as well as the powerful foreign attack duo Gerson, joined the project to rebuild Incheon. Barlow, a foreigner who won the K League 1 title, also joined the team. Yoon Jeong-hwan, who received the K League 1 Coach of the Year award, took the helm. The term "K League 2 ecosystem disturbance" was not meant for no reason.
He was close to perfection during his 10 matches, but his weakness was that he had few goals in the first half. As the opponent team played from the beginning, it was not easy for Incheon to score early on. He had seven goals through the fifth round, but all of them came out in the second half. However, this issue was resolved soon after. When his first goal in the first half was scored in an away match against Hwaseong FC in the sixth round, he successfully scored in the first half in both the eighth and 10th rounds, dispelling concerns.
The routes of scoring have diversified as well. Mugosa, who was the top scorer in the K-League 1 and scored nine goals in 10 games this season, is making strides to become the top scorer in the K-League 2. However, his dependence on Mugosa has decreased now. Lee Dong-ryul scored two goals before the injury, and Park Seung-ho also scored two goals recently, as he made a point. In the match against Gimpo, even defender Park Kyung-sup shook the net, putting the opponent team's defense in trouble.
In the match against Kimpo, the change of players also hit the spot. Leading 1-0 at 20 minutes in the second half, Yoon Jeong-hwan supplemented his energy by dispatching Kim Min-seok and Shin Jin-ho without Barlow and Park Seung-ho. Veteran Shin Jin-ho was deployed to the midfield and displayed stable performance, while Kim Min-seok responded to the manager's request that he would hit the ball boldly whenever he had a chance. Kim Min-seok, who penetrated the left side at 39 minutes in the second half, folded with his right foot and shook the net with a sharp shot to seal the victory.
Incheon's starting lineup on the day had unique characteristics. Five of the 10 field players were in their early to mid-30s, and the other five were in their early to mid-20s. Excluding key foreign players such as Mugosa, Gersaw and Barlow, most of them were born in the 2000s. Yoon Jeong-hwan, who had fun by appointing young players such as Yang Min-hyuk during his time with Gangwon FC, is also continuing his characteristics in Incheon.
Among them, the 23-year-old Kim Gun-hee and 21-year-old Park Kyung-seop are deeply trusted by the coach. The two players showed off their solid defense by allowing no runs on the day as well, displaying a sense of stability. "Kim Gun-hee and Park Kyung-seop have been in constant training since the winter training. Despite their shortcomings, they are still understanding how to play the match," coach Yoon Jung-hwan said after the match. "They are getting stronger every time they play." 안전놀이터
Incheon is doing so well, but coach Yoon Jeong-hwan is still unfamiliar with the K-League 2 stage. He remained alert, saying, "K-League 2 is still unknown. There are many variables and fluctuations in rankings." Incheon's strength, however, is showing the results. As Gimpo coach Ko Jung-woon said, "Incheon has some scary players," such players must be producing scary results.