Like Flowers in Sand (2023)

small town vibe, soft ML (though Kim Baekdu is very much not the same), lots of pretty scenery, similar type of genre crossover if you're into that aspect of kdramas

small town vibe, endearing characters, main leads gently providing good performances, an entirely normal amount of secondhand embarrassment at everyone's shenanigans, (also wrestling, probably leading to looking up the rules on the internet because who knew that was actually interesting), appealing side characters with their own interests and problems, character growth

childhood friends reunited to solve a murder case that changed the life of all the kids living in the neighborhood?? super cool and likeable female lead? very sweet male lead? then link: eat love kill is for you!

Both The Sand Flower and Shiko Funnatta!? are sports drama about wrestling and about a team that is on the verge of disbanding.

Both have the theme of fixing sports games... in MLB they mention baseball and the main sport is Boxing.
Both have slight and slow burn romance. (Although it's too soon to say about LFiS).
Both have murders and corruption.
The sports part seems more serius in this one (LFiS) = And I personally find it more rich in storytelling, characters and cinematography...

Both are about young people who are athletes and start out as friends. Although this one is about wrestling.

Both dramas are showing protagonist who is struggling with sports career,but with hard work manage to achieve something.
Both have comming of age/slice of life vibe (25-21 is more sad tho)
Both are having sad and very funny moments
And both have nice slow burn romance

- Bickering forever best friends to lovers
- lots of comic moments
- sport plays a big role in both MLs lives, Ssireum in one case, MMA in the other
- in LFiS, the ML is also questioning his capacity to accomplish his dream but finds renewed motivation for the sport he loves

Differences :
The character's personalities are very different in each drama and LFiS also adds the murder/investigation theme to the mix so the overall vibe is different but the romance is quite similar

The small town vibe, and villagers playing important parts in the story. A very beautiful outsider suddenly moving in, that becomes a love interest to the lead. There's also the whole mystery around the identity of one of the leads and some secret past coming to light as the show progresses.

- sports theme - Racket boys focuses on middle school students playing badminton while like flower in sand focus on ssireum (Korean wrestling).
The male lead in LFIS strives to achieve success even after many setbacks and struggles.
- a small town setting
- community support
- focused on personal growth and passion for their dreams and goals

Storyline is different but the main characters of both stories are very similar - that lovable, childlike, innocent person that you just love but are so naive and dense about themselves as well.

Based on the world of sports, both dramas show struggling athletes/teams on the verge of giving up or retiring but then a new manager shows up and shakes things up for the best.

- Sports setting
- Romance
- In both the ML is compared to his family
- Interesting 2nd leads

I'd say you should give Love All Play a watch if you liked Like Flowers In Sand.