believes that the team’s family-like atmosphere will get the Royals over the line and potentially into the top flight.
Busan IPark head to Gwangyang on Thursday knowing they need to beat Jeonnam Dragons to advance to the next phase of the 2024 Hana Bank K League 2 playoffs. The Royals sealed their spot in the top five on the final day, beating Bucheon FC 1995 at home 3-1.
On the scoresheet for the Royals was former Togo international striker Peniel Mlapa, netting his second in as many weeks, and fourth in a Busan shirt. After a few days off to decompress, it’s back to work:
“We had two days off after the last game, because also the last game, we had a bit of pressure to win this game. Luckily, we did, and we’re two days off to focus on other things. Now we’re back to training and, yeah, work starts again. Big game ahead, and I’m confident, and I think we can do it.”
K League’s playoffs favour the home teams with the higher-ranked side only needing a draw to advance. But Mlapa doesn’t think this matters too much:
“To be honest, as a football player, you always go to win. So, and I think Jeonnam also they will not play at home and think like, ‘Oh, we just need a draw.’ So I think also [they’ll] try to win and I think it will be an open game, and at the end, Busan will go to the next round.”
Mlapa’s first goals in a Busan shirt came in a 2-1 win away to Jeonnam with the well-travelled striker bagging both goals. Does that give Busan and Mlapa a psychological advantage?
“I don’t think so, if this gives us an advantage. It’s a knockout game so I think everything is possible. Everyone has these pros and cons, so I would say it’s a 50-50 game but at the end, small things will decide.”
Busan’s away form is the best in the league, earning 12 wins from 18 on the road. Playing this first playoff match away from home, then, might suit them.
“We might have a bit more pressure, because, as you said, we have to win the game, but maybe it suits us better because at the end, we have nothing to lose. We go there, we know we have to win. So there’s nothing else to do.”
[READ: Jeonnam Dragons vs. Busan IPark Playoff Preview]
Busan won 16 games during the regular season and only four came at home. Mlapa admits that even the players can’t quite put their finger on why so few wins have come on their own pitch:
“It’s also for us players, it’s a bit strange because at home, we have the fans with us. We have everything, and sometimes we struggle a bit to win the games and away, it’s, I don’t know, sometimes it feels easier away, but it’s difficult to explain why it is like this.”
Busan’s wins over Cheonan City and Bucheon FC 1995 ended a run of three matches without one, finding form at the right time. Mlapa, too, has found from at the right time with two goals in his last two matches.
“As a striker, is always important to to score goals, especially these important games where everybody is expecting you to score, and if you can do it, of course, it boosts your confidence.”
The race for the playoffs was one of the most tightly contested in recent memory, perhaps even ever, with some teams often needing results elsewhere to help them out. But Mlapa says that he wasn’t paying too much attention to what was going on outside of Busan IPark:
“To be honest, I was not looking for other teams because we had so many chances to get more points. We give them away so easily. So at the end, it was just like we have to do our thing, and if we win our games and we take our points, nothing can happen.”
What, then, does Mlapa think will give Busan an advantage over other teams in the playoffs?
“I think our team is like a real team, everyone is like a family, and we believe in ourselves. We had a long season. Now, from the beginning, we were sure that we will do something to come to the playoffs or to go to the K1 and now it’s our time to show this.”
To hear what Mlapa had to say about the differences between K League 1 and 2, how K League compares to the European leagues he’s played in, and what happened at Daejeon, tune into the K League United Podcast this week.
