Weekend Listing September 26-28

Drama in the K-League with the split-table event looming closer / Haniljeon time in the Asian Games, but first let’s start with the weekend Listings in Europe, courtesy of Korean Footballers Abroad (btw some weird sh*t happening in the Bundesliga table after a 0-0 draw between Mainz & Hoffenheim earlier today -we’ll get to that shortly)

Day Time (ET) Player Club Opponent TV
Friday 2:30 PM Kim Jin Su (@AG) Hoffenheim @Mainz GolTV
Friday 2:30 PM Koo Ja Cheol Mainz Hoffenheim GolTV
Friday 2:30 PM Park Joo Ho (@AG) Mainz Hoffenheim GolTV
Saturday 9:30 AM Son Heung Min Bayer Leverkusen @Freiburg None
Saturday 9:30 AM Ji Dong Won Dortmund @Schalke None
Saturday 10:00 AM Lee Chung Yong Bolton Derby Country Nnone
Saturday 10:00 AM Kim Bo Kyung Cardiff City Sheffield Wednesday None
Saturday 10:00 AM Yun Suk Young QPR @Southampton NBC Extra Time
Saturday 10:00 AM Ki Sung Yueng Swansea @Sunderland NBC Extra Time
Sunday 9:30 AM Hong Jeong Ho Augsburg Hertha Berlin GolTV

K-League Classic Week 28

Saturday, September 27
Busan IPark
1:00 AM EST
2:00 PM KOREA Time
Seongnam
Jeju United
1:00 AM EST
2:00 PM KOREA Time
Incheon
Sangju Sangmu
3:00 AM EST
4:00 PM KOREA Time
Suwon
Sunday, September 28
Steelers
1:00 AM EST
2:00 PM KOREA Time
Jeonbuk
Dragons
1:00 AM EST
2:00 PM KOREA Time
Ulsan
Over in Incheon with a 3-0 win over Hong Kong on Wednesday, the men advance to…
Asian Games Quarterfinals : Korea v Japan SUNDAY 5pm Korea Time / 4am EST
That game will be broadcast in Korea on KBS2, we leave it to you creative people to find ways to stream the game elsewhere around the world. BTW, Park Joo-Ho and Kim Jin-Su who play for Mainz and Hoffenheim respectively, both scored against Hong Kong on Wednesday. Both have really good reason to be impactful for team Korea, especially since military exemption is on the line with a Gold medal. And ESPECIALLY for Park Joo-Ho as he is scheduled to leave Germany return to Korea later in the year to serve his time in the army, that is if he doesn’t get exemption…
Here’s a video recap of PJH & KJS’s goals on Wednesday. Park’s was magnificent, a 30 yard screamer. Take a look:
Earlier on Friday, the women’s quarterfinals against Taiwan came down to one goal: Jeon Ga-eul in the 73′ to advance Korea into the semifinals, a derby showdown with North Korea on Monday:
Asian Games Semifinals : S Korea v N Korea Monday 8pm Korea time / 7am EST
-Ji So-Yun returned to Korea from her first season with Chelsea in time for yesterday’s match. Should Korea win Monday, they will face the winner of Japan v Vietnam.
Talking points about fixtures in Europe:
  • Son Heung-Min: we didn’t get a midweek roundup out but it would’ve included Son scoring the only goal vs Augsburg to win 3 point for Bayer Leverkusen. Great run into the box and a rare advanced position by Hilbert fed Son a superb through ball and boom – goal.  It’s a damn good problem to have when it becomes seemingly routine for Son to score for his side. His was up for goal of the week, take a look:
  • Hong Jeong-ho was on the bench when they faced Leverkusen & Son Wednesday but it’s possible we might see him in action against Hertha Berlin.  His teammate Sascha Molders re-injured his ankle on Wednesday and will be out several weeks according to Kicker.
  • Which segues to our next point: perhaps a good time for Koo Ja-Cheol to phone his old club. If he has any influence there as he did 2 seasons ago to convince Augsburg to take Ji Dong-Won on loan from Sunderland, he might suggest a replacement striker, like oh say Park Chu-Young, who is training now with FC Seoul. The ex Monaco man is available on a free transfer. Just sayin…
  • The Mainz / Hoffenheim friday match as you know, a scoreless draw.  The result however is that baring weekend results, Mainz is in 2nd place in the Bundesliga table.  You heard me correctly.  This was a team that looked in shambles in pre-season. Hoffenheim is right behind them in 3rd place. For more oddities in comparison, BVB is in 8th place. It’s still early in the season though and Mainz & Hoffenheim may likely settle back to midtable-ness.
  • Speaking of BVB, just recovered from injury -Ji Dong-Won featured for the first half in a midweek reserve match.  Did pretty well apparently, but media reports indicates he may still be in recovery mode and will get minutes via a BVB II game on Saturday.
  • Ki Sung-Yeung was quoted in Sunderland media that his presence and passing form has been missed greatly by the Blackcats. Ki has since been fairly excellent back with Swansea while Sunderland has struggled mightily in midfield. Ki will face his former teammates on Saturday.

More midweek recap, we’ll go back to Korean Footballers Abroad:

-Koo Ja Cheol remained out midweek… hopefully he’s finally fit enough to come back.  He may be bench if not 100%.

-Lee Chung-Yong came on late and had a few dangerous moments, showing his flashy skills, but Bolton lost. He should start his weekend.

-Kim Bo Kyung started for once but sadly was pulled to send a message after Cardiff found themselves down by 3 goals after 35 minutes.  It seems a bit unfair to have pulled two forwards when the defense was at fault but so it goes with temporary managers trying to fix a sinking ship.  We will see what happens if/when Cardiff get a new manager but KBK probably won’t be playing for a while until then.

-Yun Suk Young as mentioned last post was with reserves.  Perhaps this is the time he gets a chance but clearly he’s been off Harry’s radar for a while and I’m not expecting him to make the squad.

 

Tavern owner mode resuming: And on to the K-League, one midweek result to share:

Wednesday, September 24
FC Seoul
1
Final
Gyeongnam
1

With that, FC Seoul managed to stay in the top half of the table.  They will get some rest before next week’s 2nd leg Asian Champions League semis with Western Syndney – which shamefully is not airing anywhere in Korea.  Baseball yes, but no love for the Asian Champions League?  That’s bush league Korea broadcasters! Shame Shame Shame.

 

Where was I?  Ok, I think 2 weeks left before split table freeze, lots of drama and mere points separating the split, the race for the top and escape from the bottom.

The Top: it comes down to #1 vs #2. Sunday showdown between Jeonbuk and Pohang will be EPIC. Let’s go Steelers!  Say, this still isn’t about Choi Kang-hee hate still, is it?

The Split:  Jeonnam v Ulsan  – With just 2 points separating Jeonnam and Ulsan, -both have to go all out to avoid the splits -ouch!

The Bottom: only 5 points separating the bottom 5, the Busan IPark and Seongnam fixture will be especially tantalizing for the ‘great escape’ narratives for both clubs.

UPDATE: Modern Seoul, where have you been all my life?  I just came across their site and while they traffic in what’s cool in Seoul, they also have a great K-League section and they preview this week’s fixtures. We added them to the Tavern links – check them out and  their round 28 preview here.  Don’t forget to visit the new English language official K-League site, also updated in our Tavern links.

let’s close the Tavern tonight with a glance at the table as it stands before the Saturday matches.  What games will you be watching this weekend?

K-League
Standings
#
Team
GP
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
PTS
1
Jeonbuk
27
15
7
5
44
18
26
52
2
Steelers
27
15
5
7
39
24
15
50
3
Suwon
27
13
8
6
38
28
10
47
4
Jeju United
27
11
11
5
31
23
8
44
5
FC Seoul
28
11
10
7
31
20
11
43
6
Dragons
27
13
3
11
36
38
-2
42
 SPLIT would freeze the top and bottom halves  – event to take place in 2 weeks
7
Ulsan
27
11
7
9
32
24
8
40
8
Incheon
27
5
11
11
22
35
-13
26
9
Sangju Sangmu
27
5
10
12
28
45
-17
25
10
Seongnam
27
5
9
13
19
28
-9
24
11
Gyeongnam
28
4
12
12
21
38
-17
24
12
Busan IPark
27
4
9
14
22
42
-20
21
About Roy Ghim 454 Articles
The old Tavern Owner

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