“Attacks call spectators, defense calls championship.”
The team that matches this best in K League 2 this season was ‘Champion’ FC Anyang.
Anyang drew 0-0 against Bucheon FC in the 38th round of Hana Bank K League 2 2024 at Bucheon Stadium in Gyeonggi Province at 2 p.m. on the 2nd.
With the draw, Anyang scored 62 points, beating Seoul E-Land (61 points even if it wins the remaining two matches), which was its last competitor, to win the K-League 2 title. According to the automatic promotion qualification given to the K-League 2 winners, the team achieved promotion to the K-League 1 for the first time in 11 seasons since its foundation in 2013.
Anyang and Bucheon competed fiercely from the beginning, taking and taking each other’s balls, respectively, as a game in which promotion and playoff hopes were at stake.
First, it was the away team Anyang that created a chance close to the goal. In the 29th minute of the first half, Anyang striker Yoo Jeong-wan connected a cutback pass from the right with a right footed shot from the gate, but it was missed and rolled weakly to the left of the net.
In the 29th minute of the second half, a deflected ball slightly crossed the crossbar after hitting Anyang and several Bucheon players at the Bucheon gate. In the 33rd minute of the second half, Anyang Yago connected the ball flowing in front of the Bucheon box with a right-footed curl, but it came out after hitting the crossbar.
From Anyang’s point of view, it was a series of frustrations, but it was fortunate that they won the promotion and the championship even if they drew. Anyang, which remained in the draw until the end, won the first K League 1 promotion.
Anyang advanced to the K League 2 playoffs as the second place in the 2021 regular season, but failed to be promoted after losing to the lower team, Daejeon. Before this season, the regular league was finished with the highest ranking in the club’s history, but the last regret was regrettable.
In the 2022 season, when the rules for advancing to the playoffs were changed, the team played a home-away match against Suwon Samsung, which was ranked 10th in the K League 1 at the time, as the winner of the K League 2 PO, but the sky was indifferent. Anyang swallowed tears at the threshold of promotion by conceding a theater goal to Suwon Oh Hyun-kyu in the second half of the second game, which seemed to be a penalty shootout due to the tightness of 1-1. Anyang players, who struggled to hold onto their exhausted physical strength and somehow lead the game to a penalty shootout, had to suffer more pain than the previous season. They even failed to participate in the promotion fight to sixth place in the regular league in 2023.
However, Anyang, which started the 2024 season with a refreshing 2-0 win in its opening match against Seongnam, ranked No. 1 with five wins and one draw in six matches, and has never come down from the top since it regained the lead, which was briefly conceded by defeat against Suwon in the eighth round, with a 1-1 draw with Asan, South Chungcheong Province in the 10th round. Since retaking the top spot on May 4, Anyang has defended its lead for about six months and even won the championship.
Anyang’s positive change this season has to offer a “reduced number of goals.” Anyang ranked second in scoring among the 13 teams in the K League with 58 points last season, but lost 51 goals, the fifth largest number of goals. Despite scoring many goals, the team also allowed many goals, making it difficult to accumulate points.
However, he has allowed only 34 goals for 35 games this season, ranking No. 1 in the number of goals lost. Out of 18 wins, 17 lost by one goal or less, which demonstrated great defense capability. The team also had 11 wins, with a gap of one goal or less. 안전놀이터
At the beginning of the season, captain Lee Chang-yong played in all games as a central defender, but he was injured when Kim Young-chan and Park Jong-hyun passed away in the partner position, and Kim Ha-joon, a “second-year professional” born in 2002, moved to Jeonbuk Hyundai through the summer transfer market. At the end of the season, there were many gaps in defense, with Lee Chang-yong completely leaving due to injury and defensive midfielder Kim Jung-hyun leaving due to facial paralysis. It is surprising to maintain the minimum number of runs in this situation.
In an interview with Sports Korea, Anyang head coach Yoo Byung-hoon said, “After becoming a coach, I asked him to cut the number of runs in half in my first meeting with the team, and I also trained defense in dangerous areas where there are a lot of runs,” adding, “I practiced a lot of defense in situations where other players fill up when my colleague emptied the space where he originally was. All the players understood well and improved their tolerance in various defensive situations, so I was able to reduce the number of runs significantly.” It was no exaggeration to say that this choice brought Anyang a K League 2 victory and a K League 1 promotion.