Week 27: Big Review of K League 2 | OneFootball

Leonard Pllana again underlined his importance to Gimpo's playoff challenge with the game's only goal in Solteo. Bruno Mota is somehow still a Cheonan player despite being the best number 9 in the league. Chungbuk Cheongju have drawn for the 13th time in 25 matches, Suwon Samsung are in red-hot form before facing Seoul E-Land, who lost in Bucheon. This is our review of week 27.

Gyeongnam FC 0

Chungbuk Cheongju 0

Cheongju Stadium

3,054

Lachlan Wales told us in the Mixed Zone last week that draws are no good now. The problem for his side, Gyeongnam FC, is they've drawn four of their last five and on Saturday, they came up against the one-point specialists, Chungbuk Cheongju. With 13 and 9 draws respectively, they sit first and second in the table for ties, but down the table, where it really counts. So was this a good 0-0 or a dire one?

Neither. There was a bit of niggle in the first half and Cheongju hung on through some great last-ditch defending. Just after the break, Red Roses' Lee Jong-eon tamely headed into the ground when unmarked from six yards. It was the game's best chance to that point and yet it felt so underwhelming. A little later, Kim Hyeong-jin saw his header come back off the crossbar. Gyeongnam should have won but had to settle for another draw against the lords of sharing points.

1,736

A traditionally low-scoring fixture lived up to its past as Gimpo won a tight game at Solteo. Leonard Pllana, so often their match-winner, scored the game's only goal 10 minutes in. The Kosovan arrived at the back post and volleyed, left-footed, first time into the bottom right-hand corner. Despite missing a large chunk of the opening weeks, Pllana has equaled his season-best of eight goals. His form is keeping Gimpo in the playoff race but Gimpo are stacked with good players. Surely it'll all click soon?

Ansan can have few complaints, even if the stats and score line suggest a close game. 2023 season Mina likely finishes one of the many chances he had and despite registering four shots on target, Ansan never fully tested Son Jeon-hyeon in goal. Every save was what you'd expect of a goalkeeper at this level. Still, Ansan played some good football and as Mike Brandon said on the recent podcast, they look far better than last season.

Seongnam FC 2 (Leonard Ruiz 45+2' and 62')

Cheonan City FC 2 (Bruno Mota 43', Aboubacar Tungara 75')

Tancheon Stadium

1,750

Two sides competing at the wrong end of the table could not be separated on Saturday night in an entertaining affair at Tancheon. The big mystery of the recent transfer window is how Bruno Mota was not poached by a more ambitious club. The big Brazilian scores all sorts of goals and here he found his predatory instincts, tapping home a loose ball after the goalkeeper failed to deal with the initial effort. Mota has 11 for the season. Tungara has now scored 2 in 2 since leaving Suwon, where he managed 0 in 16. Interesting.

Another important player on his side was the Portuguese man of the match Ruiz. His first was to deflect Shin Jae-won's volley home in first-half stoppage time. His second was to convert a dubious penalty with a half hour to go. Ruiz has now scored 10 in 22 games. A fine return for a poor team. Seongnam had enough chances to win three games but will be encouraged by the display in another turbulent season by the banks of the Tancheon.

3,326

The damage was done in the first half here. The brilliant Bassani scored yet again, and Lupeto effectively ended the contest in the 14th minute. Whatever chance Seoul had of staging a dramatic comeback disappeared before the half-hour when Osmar was shown a straight red card. We need to talk about Rodrigo Bassani. His finish, in a crowded penalty box, was sublime. Takahashi Kazuka, in our recent interview,compared Bassani to the Messi of K League 2. The Bluewings should regret letting him go.

Two major moments ended the game after Lupeto's 14th minute goal. Bruno Silva uncharacteristically hooked his penalty wide and four minutes later, Osmar received a straight red card for what looked like a bunch to Lupeto's chest, off the ball. It is hard to imagine the Spaniard reacted without provocation but in the world of VAR, it was a surprising show of ill-discipline from the experienced Osmar.

The future's bright, the future's Kim Ji-ho. A youthful Bluewings side took another step closer to the summit of K League 2 with a vital 2-1 win over Jeonnam Dragons, a week after the same score was enough to beat FC Anyang. Next Sunday they face Seoul E-Land in Mokdong. The last time those two sides met, Seoul ridiculed Suwon and ended Yeom Ki-hun's reign. How times have changed. And it is a bunch of under 22s who are doing most of the damage. In saying that, Sebastian Mailat's opener was other-worldly.

21-year-old Kim Ji-ho has now scored four and assisted twice in just six games as a Bluewings. Sunday's performance also brought back-to-back man of the match awards. Last week, against Anyang, Kim was introduced to the media for the first time. He was shy, nervous, but unwittingly humorous. His goal was all down to 20-year-old Bae Seo-jun's good work and tenacity down the right, but the young man was in the right place to tap home the winner.

Special mention to Ha Nam who scored a screamer to tie the game for Jeonnam. The goal did come from woeful Suwon defending, the likes of which we haven't seen since Byun took over. It took Kim Ji-ho to right that wrong, however.

Chungnam Asan 0

Busan IPark 1 (Lim Min-hyeok 10')

Yi Sun-sin Stadium

1,523

Busan's hopes of a play-off finish received a significant boast on Sunday when they beat fellow-challengers Chungnam Asan in Yi Sun-sin. Their only goal, finished by Lim Min-hyeok, was insanely good, and again shows the talent below K League 1. Lee Han-do's raking right to left pass was met on the goal line by Kim Ryun-sung and the U22 winger cut it back first time for Lim to smash it, also first time, into the corner of the net. Had this goal taken place at a higher level, fans would be raving. It was simply outstanding.

Asan have now dropped two straight and face a resurgent Bucheon this weekend at home. They currently occupy the final play-off spot, but they're only three points above 9th. This has been a remarkable season for Asan, as they close in on 2023's total with plenty of matches to spare. September is a handy month fixture-wise, so even dropped points against Bucheon won't be the end of their campaign.