Fortune Favours the Bold: Seoul E-Land's Road to Redemption

It has been almost three months since the last Seoul E-Land article, which was published by myself, Michael Redmond on K League United. The article spoke about how Seoul E-Land have failed to live up to its hype and once again underperformed in the K League 2. That was in July, and it was followed by another drab August. By then, I took to our Podcast to express my concerns about the team. 

Yet in true irony, after that podcast, Seoul E-Land went on to play eight games in the K League, winning six, drawing one and losing one. A team that was once projected to battle Busan at the bottom, are now only three games away from sneeking into a playoff position. Let's look at how Seoul E-Land got here.  

Down and Out

Picture it. It is August 20th, and Seoul E-Land has won just one in fifteen games. They face off against Gwangju, who are top of the K League 2 table in Mokdong Stadium. A game which could give the fans something to cheer about, if only they put in a half-decent performance. 

On that sweltering Saturday evening, Seoul E-Land fell 4-0 to the eventual champions Gwangju. The scoreline however did not reflect the performance. Gwangju ran rings around Seoul. It was quite frankly hard to watch as a supporter. The end of the game was met with Seoul E-Land fans jeering and booing. Something no matter how bad they have played has never been heard on such a scale. 

Seoul looked down and out and fans cancelled the season there. Then Seoul welcomed Daejeon to Leoul Park...

The Turning Point 

On the last day of Summer, Daejeon came to town. A team looking to push for 2nd so that they can have the pleasure of playing 10th place in the K League 1 for a position in the top division. This had a Seoul E-Land milling written all over it. But that didn't happen. Two goals in four minutes put Seoul ahead of Daejeon in the game. The purples pulled one back, but Seoul finally saw three points. 

Seoul E-Land celebrates their 3-0 victory over Gimpo Fc.

The next meeting was Gyeongnam Fc and a similar scoreline was recorded. Seoul has now won two games in a row against two teams above them. Fans started to turn heads. 

The next game was on the Chuseok weekend when Seoul travelled to Gimpo FC. A convincing 3-0 win saw the Leopards slowly climb away from the bottom half of the table, and hike up that K League 2 mountain. 

This then followed Seoul's bogey team, Chungnam Asan. A team that no matter how good Seoul are playing, no matter where they are both n the table, Asan always come out on top.  Seoul went on to humiliate them 3-0. Now fans have started to believe that something was happening in this team.   

The Set Back

Seoul then went on to play Ansan Greeners who are not having the best season. This had win written all over it giving their form. Seoul only managed to gain a point from the Green Wolves following a 1-1 draw. 

A valiant Seoul E-Land fell 1-0 to Gyeongnam Fc

Even worse, a game followed against 5th placed Gyeongnam, the team in the position Seoul wanted. Gyeongnam edged it 1-0 and put themselves five points clear of the Leopards. The dream looked like it was dead. 

                       [LINK: K League 1 'Final Round' Preview & Seoul E-Land's Late Form]

Hope and a Litte Bit of Luck 

Seoul continued to play to win and next, they met FC Anyang, a team they have failed to beat in almost three years. Seoul went on to win that game 3-2 and it had fans elated. Better yet, Daejeon helped E-Land out a lot and destroyed Gyeongnam 3-0. It looked like the race was back on. 

The last game for Seoul E-Land saw them beat Bucheon 3-0, a team having a great season and even better Gimpo helped out Seoul and beat Asan 1-0 to let E-Land leapfrog into 6th place. 

The Final Countdown

So here we are now. The three teams looking for that final playoff position are Gyeongnam, Seoul E-Land, and Chungnam Asan. At the time of this article being published, Gyeognam are set to face Jeonnam Dragons in their 38th game of the season, putting them one game ahead of both Seoul and Asan. 

The race for 5th place is getting tight in the 2022 K League 2. (Image via fotmob.com)

Seoul and Asan will be a game behind and they play each other on Wednesday evening to make up for it. Here is the running for the three teams. 

Gyeongnam: Jeonnam Dragons (H), Gwangju FC (A), FC Anyang (H)

Seoul E-Land: Chungnam Asan (A), Jeonnam Dragons (A), Busan IPark (H)

Chungnam Asan: Seoul E-Land (H),  Busan IPark (A), Gwangju FC (H)

On paper, it looks like Seoul has the better run-in for the final three games, however, Gyeongnam at the time of this publishing are two points ahead. 

Final Thoughts

It has been an unbelievable season. I feel like I say that every single year, but this one has truly been a rollercoaster. In a season that started okay, and then had a terrible summer, has seemed to come full circle. Seoul E-Land are once more on the cusps of achieving something great and if they manage to get there, it would be nothing short of a fairytale. 

Personally, it has been such a refreshing experience watching a good Seoul E-Land team playing for the badge. It has been a wonderful few weeks supporting this team and I just hope it doesn't stop. However, my enjoyment has now turned to fear and nervousness. 

Can Seoul E-Land make the 2022 K League 2 playoffs?

I cancelled the season in June and thought it was another poor season. Now I am gearing up for three massive games for Seoul E-Land which are almost like three FA Cup finals for the capital side.  

The last time Seoul had a running like this was in 2020 and that ended in tears for me in Leoul Park. I just hope that it does not end the same way for the class of 2022. Can Seoul E-Land do it? Only time will tell.