KPA+KLeague weekend roundup: Son scores / FA Cup: Suwon controversially knocked out by Busan (VAR fail?) / KWNT finishes USA trip

October 25, 2017 Roy Ghim *Korean Players Abroad*, K League Classic, Korean FA Cup, South Korean Women's National Football Team 0

Got to be honest, my mind is not on football but on my daughter who is celebrating her 5th birthday.  If My Little Pony the mOvIe isn’t on your to-watch list – you must not be a parent of a little girl. But a round up is late and some interesting happenings are happening so I’ll make this short but sweet. Let’s start with Korean Footballers Abroad:

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Weekend Recap – Oct 21th and Midweek Preview – Oct 24th

Cup time makes things unpredictable but positive things this past weekend.

Day Time Player Club Opponent TV
Tuesday 2:45 PM Lee Chung Yong Crystal Palace @Bristol City (Cup) ESPN3
Tuesday 2:45 PM Ki Sung Yueng Swansea Man Utd (Cup) ESPN3
Wednesday 12:30 PM Lee Seung Woo Hellas Verona @Atalanta BeIn
Wednesday 3:00 PM Son Heung Min Tottenham West Ham (Cup) ESPN3
Wednesday 3:05 PM Kwon Chang Hoon Dijon Stades Rennes (Cup) None
Wednesday 3:05 PM Suk Hyun Jun Troyes SC Amiens (Cup) None
Off n/a Ji Dong Won Augsburg
Off n/a Koo Ja Cheol Augsburg

Lee Chung Yong — Left off squad last weekend but decent chance to warm bench today. If Hodgson wants to sacrifice cup in favor of PL survival, maybe even a start.

Ki Sung Yueng — I guess he wasn’t fit enough to start but came on as a sub at HT and looked motivated and had some good touches though a few rusty moments as well. I don’t think he’s ready for two matches in a week so hopefully on bench today but Clement could be hoping to get things going with an upset today.

Lee Seung Woo — I was surprised when he came on with still a chance but unfortunately never got the touches. Still a positive sign and perhaps he has a bigger sub role soon even though he’s unlikely to start.

Son Heung Min — Son got his slow start to PL going finally and also put aside some doubts from fans as to his role for big matches and when using a back five. Son destroyed Liverpool’s high and slow back line and was rewarded with a goal off a good pass from Kane. He might be a bit disappointed though to have not scored more, hitting crossbar and failing to beat GK one on one. A very bright showing and certainly a large claim for as big a role as last season.

Kwon Chang Hoon — Very good and had an assist but also had a few chances in final third to excel but failed. He showed a lot of technique and energy but needs to be more consistent to create more danger. But he’s growing in confidence and good things are coming out of it. I assume he will get rotated to bench for cup.

Suk Hyun Jun — Came on as sub as cannon fodder as they were down to 10 and losing by four. I would assume he starts today and hopefully he can show that he can be more of a legit option off the bench.

Ji Dong Won — Still out injured in a frustrating fall.

Koo Ja Cheol — Came on as a sub and did ok from I gathered. He will need to create more offensive impact from deeper role if he wants to beat out more defensive players like Khedira.

Video Highlights:

 

K League Championship roundup

Saturday, October 21

FC Seoul
2
FT

Suwon Bluewings
2
Sunday, October 22

Gangwon
0
 FT

Jeonbuk
4

Ulsan
0
 FT

Jeju
1

and K-League Relegation Roundup:

Saturday, October 21

Daegu
0
 FT

Incheon
0

Jeonnam Dragons
1
 FT

Pohang Steelers
3
Sunday, October 22

Gwangju
1
 FT

Sangju Sangmu
0

UPDATE :  it’s wed so Tuesday matches are done and over – Lee Chung-Yong got the start in this cup match, looked dangerous early and his shot crashed off the crossbar. However he was subbed out- injured in the 54th minute. Crystal Palace eventually lost to Bristol City 4:1 – let the bad times roll.  We’ll try to find out more on LCY’s injury. Meanwhile Swansea and Ki Sung-Yeung lost to Man U in their cup match 2:0 – the only silver lining is Ki was rated by Wales Online as Swans’ key player (no pun intended):

KI SUNG-YUENG 7 (Star man)

Swansea’s best performer and one of few to truly encourage. Side desperately needs him to be willing to drive ball forward and assert himself on games. Set piece was good too.

 

And here’s the latest today:

Lee Seung-Woo subbed in the 2nd half of what would be a 3:0 loss to Atalanta

Son starts for Spurs

 

And this just in:

Kwon also with an assist for Dijon and a moment ago nearly got a goal himself – he’s been a dangerman for Dijon so far.

Ok, let’s rewind a moment, I can’t cover this in great detail but  today’s Korea FA Cup semifinal between Busan IPark and Suwon Bluewings ended in controversy, according to the twittersphere – Suwon should have won but VAR fucked things up. Busan winds up winning on penalty kicks.

 

So it’ll be Ulsan v Busan in the Korea FA Cup final (date TBA) – we’ll try to update on the FA Cup semi and where refs and/or VAR reportedly failed later.

 

On Sunday Korea Women’s team faced the US in Cary North Carolina and with a depleted defensive line (Shin Dam-Yeong injured in Friday’s first US v Korea friendly), a 6-0 loss. On the surface the scoreline looks horrific, but the full context was simply that Yoon Deok-Yeo didn’t bring his best squad, instead took the opportunity to play younger players within an experimental roster to give them a taste of playing at a higher/faster level – Cho So-Yun played out of position at CB (not her best role) that and he rested his best player, Chelsea’s Ji So-yun. I am completely out of time but in the near future will post up on Korea’s trip further as there were some positive and negative takeaways from the US friendlies. In the meantime, Hal Kaiser came out of semi-retirement from covering women’s football to cover both games, was a tremendous help to the broadcasters on how to pronounce the Korean names, and did this post match podcast that was really illuminating on the progress and the challenge with a Korean FA that hasn’t really fully thrown their support for the Women’s team. Take a listen. I’ll be back as soon as humanly possible – but first, a birthday party to prepare for. Chal Ga-yo!

 

 

 

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