It was an irresistible flow.
The K League 1 direct relegation team in the 2024 season is Incheon United. Incheon lost to Daejeon Hana Citizen in the 37th round and decided to drop to the second division.
There were various factors that caused Incheon’s relegation this year. Many of the choices made in the course of the season failed.
Anxiety has been detected since the “water bottle throwing incident” on May 11. In the match against FC Seoul, some spectators threw water bottles as goalkeeper Baek Jong-beom roared toward the supporters’ seats. Incheon was fined 20 million won by the Korea Professional Football Federation for closing the five-game cheering seats at home for its responsibility to keep the stadium safe and orderly.
Since then, Incheon’s performance has declined like a ghost, with only one win, five draws and four losses in 10 games, and former coach Cho Sung-hwan packed his bags on July 5. Fans who support the team turned into negative factors.
After Cho’s departure, the team was also inexperienced. While Daegu FC and Daejeon Hana Citizen have appointed a new head coach within two weeks under similar circumstances, Incheon wasted almost a month. Choi Young-geun took the helm on Aug. 1.
What’s worse, Choi, who has no experience as a professional coach, went through trial and error. Choi switched from three-back to four-back during the season based on his philosophy, but this became toxic. Incheon, which failed to catch a clue, ended up playing soccer, neither for me nor for me.
The decision, which came at the most important moment at the end of the season, was also regrettable. Faced with a two-point gap, Choi had an opportunity to immediately upset the team, but chose to operate the team cautiously. It was the most precious opportunity, but he seemed to be satisfied with the draw. 스포츠토토
The management of the match against Daejeon is no different. We have to win unconditionally, but we pushed up the line from the beginning and ended up allowing two runs. Consequently, it would have been better for the first half to remain stable before throwing a winning move in the second half.
This year, Incheon did not even have a good transfer window. There was no remarkable strengthening of offense in both winter and summer. Mugosa was responsible for 15 goals, but his team scored 35 goals, the fewest in the league. This is why he has eight wins in 37 games.
Incheon has frequently faced relegation crisis, but it has survived through appropriate countermeasures. The “survival DNA” was not created by accident. It was different this year. Having spent this season without proper diagnosis, Incheon faced the bad luck of its first relegation. Incheon’s fall was inevitable, not a coincidence.