Why can't the K League 2 challengers find consistent, long term form?

For the second straight season, the K League 2 championship race looks like it will go down to the final weekend. Only this time, it isn't a two-horse race. Why is the second division so difficult to win and why are none of the contenders capable of putting together a long winning run?

While most of the focus is on K League's 1 title race and relegation battle -'the best season in years' one could say - K League 2 is far from decided as we enter the final nine games. Last season's conclusion was epic, but this year's looks even more wild. With none of the pretenders able to put together a long unbeaten run, the destination of the championship is up in the air.

It wasn't always this way.

Two years ago, Gwangju went top for the second time in round 12. They stayed there, right through to round 40, dominating the division and winning the championship by 12 points. The previous season, Gimcheon Sangmu had nine points to spare on FC Anyang. And in 2020, Jeju United won the title by six points. Second-placed Suwon FC, who also went up, were 15 clear of Gyeongnam FC in 3rd.

Last season's championship race was utterly brilliant and discussed at length on the K League United podcast. But a quick reminder for those who may have forgotten. In a 39-week campaign, Busan IPark rose to the summit after week 30. They stayed there until the 96th minute of the final day when an extraordinary late collapse saw them lose the title to Gimcheon Sangmu. To make matters worse, Busan blew a 3-1 aggregate lead with 12 minutes to play in the relegation promotion decider with Suwon FC.

Fast forward to this season and FC Anyang, at the time of writing during the international break, are five points ahead of Jeonnam Dragons. Anyang have been continuously holding onto first since week 10 (we're now in week 29) and all bar six weeks in total. They deserve to go up but they don't have a hand on the trophy just yet, or even a fingertip for that matter. Why? Because Anyang are dropping points to teams at both ends of the table.

They didn't win a match in August and their record in the last 10 games reads four wins, three draws, and three defeats for 15 points. It isn't terrible form by any means, but it doesn't fill you any sort of confidence that they are likely to go up automatically. One of those defeats came against Ansan Greeners, then bottom of the table. Anyang fought back twice but still found time to lose the Line 4 derby in added-on time. To make matters worse, popular striker Danrlei has departed, after picking up a season-ending injury.

Jeonnam Dragons are second and have been since round 13. Incredibly, they have never sat top this season but were once down in 11th. Can you imagine the scenes if Jeonnam's only stint at the top of the ladder was after the final round? It could happen, but then their form is rotten of late. Jeonnam's inability to win games is the sole reason Anyang have opened up a five-point gap. The Dragons have lost eight all season, but half of those have come in the last 10 games. They are six without a win.

Like Anyang, they are dropping points to teams at both ends of the table. Their last 10 matches reads four wins, two draws, and four defeats. Jeonnam have kept one clean sheet since early June. They are hemorrhaging goals which is great for the neutral, but not for Lee Jang-kwan, their manager. Gimpo - and specifically Luis Mina - hit them for four last weekend, and while they did rebound to score three of their own, the sense is Anyang's biggest challenger might well be the team immediately below Jeonnam in the table.

Kim Do-kyun's Seoul E-Land are six points back in third. They have scored 51 goals (13 more than Anyang) but like Jeonnam, their defensive record is horrendous. It is brilliant (but wild) to see Jeonnam (41 goals against) and Seoul E-Land (36) when their goals conceded number is worse than Ansan Greeners'. But this is what makes the title challenge so interesting. Anyang have the joint-meanest defense in the league but they are now without their most prolific striker.

The season's surprise package is Chungnam Asan, a young club we've come used to seeing finish in 10th. They made an inspired managerial chance over the winter and as impossible as it might sound, Asan are title contenders. They have an identical record to Suwon Samsung, but sit above their illustrious rivals by dint of notching eight goals more at this stage. Suwon's wastefulness in front of goal ultimately cost them their K League 1 status, and it is having an impact in the second tier, too.

Asan's most recent outing was a comprehensive 3-0 win over Gyeongnam. Gyeongnam are managed by former Asan head coach, Park Dong-hyeok. Park must be sick of old club now. Asan have taken nine points off last season's promotion-side, scoring nine and conceding just one in the process. That win ended a run of three without success but their record over 10 games is five wins, three draws, and two defeats.

Suwon Samsung did embark on a 10-match unbeaten streak until recently. But progress was halted by the number of draws in that run. As Lachlan Wales told the podcast recently, "There are too many draws in K League 2." It is hard to climb the table when you're stumbling from week to week with an extra point added to the table. Suwon's record ended with a third defeat of the season to Seoul E-Land and only a miraculous late recovery prevented Byun Seong-hwan's men from making it two-from-two in Cheongju.

However, over their last 10 matches, Suwon have amassed seventeen points. Five of those games ended in a draw, curtailing their ability to make up ground lost during the end of Yeom Ki-hun's reign. September is an easier month on paper - they play three of the bottom four - but as we'll find out later, there are no more easy three-pointers in this league. For example, Suwon travel to Seongnam in round 31, having already been well beaten in Tancheon this year.

Streak? What streak?

One of the main reasons why none of the teams have been able to race clear is they can't go on a long winning streak. This may be because too many teams of equal stature are vying for the same prize. Seven points separate the top five teams, a number that could easily be made up even in the short time remaining this campaign. This is the longest winning streak for the top 7.

FC Anyang and Suwon Samsung: 4 games

Jeonnam Dragons, Chungnam Asan, Busan IPark, and Gimpo FC: 3

Seoul E-Land: 2

Let's take a closer look at Suwon Samsung. After going top in April, they lost six straight and the manager walked. With their season on the rocks, they responded well to go a long unbeaten run under Byun Seong-hwan. That run culminated in home victories over the top 2. How did Suwon respond to those potentially season-defining wins? Of course, they dropped five points in their next two games to teams below them in the table.

Seoul E-Land have not managed a three-game winning streak all season. They've had plenty of two-games runs, but always seem to follow that with a defeat. Look at July. Seoul beat Chungbuk Cheongju and Seongnam (scoring six goals) in back-to-back games. Their next fixture, in Mokdong, was against Cheonan City. The perfect opportunity to make it three on the bounce. Remarkably, Seoul scored three times and still lost.

The basement is alive and kicking

The biggest reason is, surely, the improvements made by the teams at the bottom of the table. Take Cheonan City FC. In their debut season, they finished bottom with 25 points. With nine matches till to play, Cheonan are five points better off than in 2023 but sit in 10th spot. Seongnam (13th) need to win just one more game to ensure they finish with more points than the teams who ended last term in 12th and 13th.

Cheonan City have thus far recorded wins over Jeonnam Dragons, Suwon Samsung, Seoul E-Land, and Busan IPark. Ansan Greeners, perennial whopping boys, have guaranteed a higher points total this season with a fair chunk of the season to play. In the past month, Ansan have beaten FC Anyang and Bucheon FC 1995, and drawn with Seoul E-Land.

The teams near the foot are also stacked with players of genuine quality. Until recently, Cheonan boasted a forward line of Bruno Mota and Paulinho. The Brazilian due combined for 20 goals before Paulinho moved north to Suwon. He was replaced by Bluewings misfit Aboubacar Tungara, who has scored twice in three since joining Mota. Three players head the scoring charts with 11, and none of them are currently in the playoff picture. Leonardo Ruiz has 11 for bottom placed Seongnam,

It is a similar story when you look at the assists. Lachlan Wales has barely spent a week in Korea, but he's already up to 5 assists for the 12th placed Gyeongnam FC. Rodrigo Bassani has 14 goal contributions for midtable Bucheon FC, the same number as Busan's Bruno Lamas. As long as the creative players at the clubs outside the playoff picture keep producing, we're unlikely to see a single team pull away at the top.

Brutal Busan

Another feature has been Busan struggling and toiling for most of the year in midtable. In the KLU preview pod, we debated between Suwon Samsung and Busan IPark as potential champions. Heading into the break, both clubs had changed managers, Suwon sat 5th and Busan one place below them. Last year, Busan lost six games all season. That number is up to 10 and even if they win all nine of their remaining fixtures, they would not equal the 70 points they concluded 2023 on.

Their home form is atrocious and changing stadium from Asiad to Gudeok has made no difference. Fortunately for new manager Cho Seung-hwan, Busan's away form is the best in the division - averaging two points a game and an incredible +10 goal difference - but there are no home comforts. It is worth remembering that Busan collected just 1 point from their final two league games last season, when two would have seen them promoted.

K League is on fire again. We may not know where the trophy is heading until after the final round and with plenty to play for in the playoffs, the excitement is just getting started.