Koo Ja-Cheol & Lee Chung-Yong scores / Wednesday Tavern Kickaround

November 28, 2012

First Koo Ja-Cheol scored for Augsburg, then Lee Chung-Yong followed up with a game winning goal for Bolton; would Ki Sung-Yeung playing for Swansea make it a trifecta today?

Let’s just leave you good Tavern goers in a bit of suspense and go back to Germany and Koo’s incredible individual effort to equalize for Augsburg in a midweek match against Stuttgart.  Last place Augsburg were already down 1-0 thanks to a Ibrahima Traore strike early in the 11th minute. Right before half time, Koo collected a pass close to the center line. He drove the ball down the center and then unexpectedly let loose a powerful strike from over 30 yards out, caught the keeper and everyone else surprised, and it slipped in at the upper right corner of the net. Take a look:

Koo delivers -with a post goal celebration Gangnam style. Unfortunately for Augsburg, they couldn’t build on that and they conceded another goal to Ibisevic in the 69th minute. Augsburg furiously fought to get back the equalizer, with Daniel Baier blast blocked by Stuttgart’s keeper.  Koo followed up moments later with a powerful shot of his own which nearly went it; he recovered the rebound and shot it wide of the post. Augsburg loses again, their winless streak now stands at 7 games and they are still last in the Bundesliga with 7 points.

Lee Chung-Yong got a rare start and the move paid off handsomely as he netted a game winner for Bolton in their Wednesday English Championship clash with Blackburn. It took only 93 seconds into the match for Kevin Davies to find the back of the net. In the 61st minute, Chris Eagles free kick was knocked to the post by Blackburn’s keeper, leaving Lee to score his 3rd goal of the season.

Blackburn made things interesting with a late goal, but the Wanderers hung on for the win. Lee has scored 2 of his 3 goals as a starter (hint hint to Bolton’s boss Freedman).

Ki Sung-Yeung sports new haircut for Swansea

Ki Sung-Yeung regained his starter role as one of Swansea’s stalwart midfielders in today’s match with West Bromich Albion. He certainly had an improved game over last Sunday’s performance against Liverpool (in which he returned at halftime from a 10 day absence from the team due to a hamstring injury). The Swans got on the board early and often, winning in a overtly dominant 3-1 performance and snapping the upstarts 4 game win streak. Ki did his part as boss of the midfield and was an integral part of Swansea’s Barca-esque 65% possession of the ball. Ki nearly got a goal himself late in the match, a 30 yard curling freekick that just missed the upper right corner. Nevertheless, he turned in a cool, calm and efficient display. Note: lately Ki has been given set piece opportunities again, taking the corners on the right for the Liverpool match and a few free kicks and left corners for today’s match.

 

I’m back from stepping out of the Tavern time machine and have a few items to report from Tuesday:

Kim Bo-Kyung put in 90+ minutes for his Cardiff side in a 1-1 draw away at Derby County. He had a chance to score in the 24th minute but it was just off the mark. Cardiff, who has had some difficulty getting points on the road, still remains on top of the N-Power Championship table.

Tuesday also marked the return of Park Ji-Sung to QPR’s lineup, this time under Harry Rednapp’s new management. Park has had nearly a month long absence due to a knee injury and didn’t feature in QPR’s visit to Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium last weekend. He came in the 65th minute for Samba Diakite and put in a lively  performance. QPR looked dangerous for much of the latter 2nd half, but couldn’t break the scoreless deadlock. Sunderland 0  :  QPR 0.  His first game in charge since firing Mark Hughes, Harry Rednapp has pull out of his sleeves a bit of magic to get QPR out of the relegation zone, as they are still in last place in the Premier League.

Damn, the Tavern time machine is broken [yobo! tell the kids they can’t play in the Tavern toolshed!]. Now I can’t tell you what’s going to go down on Thursday between Celta Vigo and  LaLiga2 side Almeria in Spanish Cup/Copa del Rey action. While it’s not certain, Park Chu-Young stands a good chance at getting the start. The Vigo side is already down 2-0 in aggregate, thanks to a lackluster 1st leg performance at Almeria several weeks earlier. However, as Santiago Perez’s Rainmaker18.com blog has pointed out, winning and advancing here means a future showdown with Real Madrid and more income for Celta Vigo. Game starts at 1:30 pm EST.

The Tavern had gotten wind of some new experimental goal line technology that FIFA will try out in December for the FIFA Club World Cup. Two competing technologies, one magnetic sensor based (using no cameras) and the other with 7 multi angled cameras will be going head to head to see which one is more functional and accurate. Ulsan Hyundai Horangi will be the representing when the games kick off in Japan next month, having won the Asian Champions League a few weeks ago.  They will face off against Monterray – if they knock them out, they could go head to head against Chelsea. The Gaurdian got a look at it and you can see it for yourselves:


Finally we go back to Koo Ja-Cheol and his Gangnam Style celebration today, apparently there is a spoof video called Augsburg Style in which Koo had a bit part in. It may not exactly be worth your time, but if you’re at all curious, check in at 1:40 and 2:06.

About Roy Ghim 454 Articles
The old Tavern Owner

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