Ta-da! Salty defense → Only 5 runs in 12 games... '7 consecutive wins' Incheon suppresses overwhelming runs as offense → The 'key to promotion' proved by history
Ta-da! Salty defense → Only 5 runs in 12 games... '7 consecutive wins' Incheon suppresses overwhelming runs as offense → The 'key to promotion' proved by history
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It is more surprising than its seven consecutive wins and 24 points. Incheon United's solid defense has remained firm this season. Incheon won 2-0 in the 12th round match of the Hana Bank K League 2 2025 against the Ansan Greeners held at Wa Stadium in Ansan on Wednesday. Incheon defeated Ansan to become the first team to secure 10 wins in both the K League 1 and the K League 2. Starting with the match against Hwaseong FC, the team has extended its winning streak to seven consecutive wins. It solidified its league lead with 31 points and maintained its gap with other top-ranked teams.
The team is displaying overwhelming momentum. Attacks led by Mugosa, Barlow and Gersault all joined in earnest, scoring 24 goals and ranking second in the league's score points. The gap in weight class with teams in the K League 2 is clear. Incheon led the trend in most of the matches. Of the 12 games in the league, the only games that Incheon lost in market share were the match against Bucheon (49:51) and E-Land (46:54). By shaking the opponent team's defense in various ways, including fast turnaround of attack and pressure from the front line, Incheon proved itself to be the strongest in the league.
The defense is as important as the offense. Incheon only allowed five goals in 12 games this season. It has eight clean sheet (no goals lost). The only game in the league that allowed multiple runs was the match against Seongnam (1-2 loss). In the course of the recent seven consecutive wins, Incheon has shown a stronger defense by allowing only two runs. What is surprising is that Incheon has chosen to change its style to an aggressive style this season. Incheon, which had been based on defense-oriented tactics and low-line tactics until the 2024 season, has been playing soccer since Yoon Jeong-hwan took office, pressing opponents with high-line and fast-dynamic attack. Despite the elevated line, however, Incheon successfully achieved a "salt defense," as its figure of allowing 1.28 goals per game last season fell to 0.41 goals per game this season. Park Kyung-sup and Kim Geon-hee, a young and energetic center back duo, started all league games and showed impressive performance, while Lee Ju-yong and Kim Myung-soon, who are full-back, have also added stability to their performance. Yoon's change in tactics has transformed Incheon into an aggressive yet solid team.
Fewer runs and a solid defense are essential elements for promotion. The history of winning teams that have succeeded in promoting the first division of Direct proves this. As many as five of the teams that won the K League 2 in the last seven seasons have succeeded in promotion with the least number of goals. Looking at Anyang (36 goals lost) in the previous 2024 season, the importance of losing points and defense was an indispensable factor for the winning team. Anyang ranked fifth in the league with 51 goals in the 2024 season, but managed to win the title by suppressing lost points through solid midfield and defense. The only team that did not record the minimum number of lost points is Gimcheon Sangmu in the 2021 and 2023 seasons. Sangmu could be different because it cannot maintain a steady defense throughout a season due to the nature of the players discharged from the military. In addition, 메이저놀이터 the defense itself was not unstable, ranking second in the minimum number of lost points in the 2021 season and fourth in the 2023 season. This shows the importance of defense in the K League 2 championship race. The promotion race of the K League 2 is, in a nutshell, war. Incheon, which won the most "battle" this season, is advancing rapidly toward victory in the war as the strongest "shield" in the league.