Weekend Roundup 12.12-12.14 + ‘nut rage’ expanded

We’re still waiting for Yun Suk-Young & QPR as they visit Everton on Monday but first let’s see about how Korean footballers fared in Europe this past weekend. Weekend goals scored by Ryu Seung-Woo and Suk Hyun-Jun – and surprise start by Hong Jeong-ho, but of all the teams to get his first start…Bayern Munich?!

Wait, before we get all euro on you, check out Jae’s post, K League Review: the Top 4.

done? well what you waiting for:

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You want goals? YOU WANT GOALS?!  YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE GOALS!!  Ok just trying out my best Jack Nicholson impression and yes, I do think you can handle the goals, first Ryu’s – great setup by his teammates, leaving Ryu to execute.
Goal Ryu Seung-Woo – Braunschweig 1-0 Union… by AlleTore

According to our sources (Takeuchi), Ryu had a good game, creating several chances for his teammates. Will he pull a Bellarabi and be alongside Son for Bayer Leverkusen next year —or in January? Moving on…

We go to Portugal. Fast forward to 1:58 for this:

Some further notes from the weekend:

  • Kim Jin-Su had a solid 1st half for Hoffenheim – but a shaky 2nd half which saw Eintracht Frankfurt get back into the game. Fortunately Hoffenheim took all 3 points in a crazy 3-2 affair.  I could be wrong, I thought Kim started the sequence leading to the game winning goal. If I’m wrong, hey – I’m just a mere Tavern Owner.
  • Hong Jeong-Ho has had a hard time getting meaningful minutes for surging Augsburg. Surprise, with Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker out with a cold, Hong got his first start of the season – but of all the teams – Bayern Munich!?!   Up for the challenge, Hong had a solid 1st half and did his part as a solid team effort to brake down the mega munich machine scoreless by halftime (Nuer came adventuring up so far away from his perch, he nearly got into major trouble). 2nd half Augsburg ran out of gas, and Hong was partly responsible for at least 2 of 4 goals.  A loss to Bayern Munich however is almost par for the course as they are in an entirely different orbit. Still, according to Kicker, boss Markus Weinzierl was satisfied with Hong’s performance, laying out the case that he’d been placed in a difficult fixture while having to shed rust -quickly.  No word on whether he will start this Tuesday against Hanover.
  • Kim Bo-Kyung with his 2nd consecutive start for Cardiff – but he was pulled after 45 minutes. Not a good situation for Kimbo (get out while you still can!)
  • I got to see Swansea tragically lose it at the end to the Spurs – in the 89th minute – a defensive lapse of judgement. Ki had a decent performance overall.  Monk wanted to use Ki’s height to use high up the pitch – but no goals. Ki had 2 chances to score on headers -both missing wide. Later, Ki pulled back to his usual defensive mid positioning when Leon Britton subbed out for Shelvey.  Despite Spurs best efforts to pry the ball from Ki, his footwork was in fine form and did well to keep the Swans flowing. So many chances to score, the Swans will be rueful that they didn’t pull away with all 3 points. You want to see a snippet of Ki’s work? Click below:
    Click to expand…

     

 

Stay tuned – a number of midweek fixtures coming up soon – and I’ve been trying to edit a podcast on the K-League Challenge in review – we’ll get that up as soon as humanly possible. Chal ga-yo!

 

Extra curricular time:

By now you’ve heard about ‘nut rage’ – Heather Cho, the daughter of Korean Air’s CEO and a Vice President of the airlines herself going nuts over being served macademias in a bag and ordering head steward Park Chang-jin off the plane in New York and delaying the flight in the process. There’s more: according to KBS, Park was forced to kneel to Ms Cho, then after being ordered off the the plane, returned on a separate flight to Korea. But just when you thought the shame and humiliation was over… let’s go to the BBC:

Once home, officials from the airline came to his home to ask him to say that Ms Cho did not use abusive language and that he had voluntarily got off the plane, he said.

Should you decide to take Corporation Revisionist History 101: remember that to change the actual events on the ground with your peasant workers, you also must pay off the customers who witnessed the abuse.

Korean Air officials initially defended Ms Cho, but walked it back after the media storm that erupted.

In the aftermath, we’ve seen the contrite and apology ridden father / daughter Cho pair on TV doing their PR bit, but Seoul will now launch an investigation into whether safety regulations were violated during the ‘nut rage’ incident. Our best guess: the Park Geun-hye administration will wrist slap Korean Air with a meaningless verdict. Korean Air is owned by the Cho family, part of the Hanjin Group chaebol. The BBC article goes on to observe, “…some South Koreans resent chaebols for dominating the economy and many accuse them of acting with impunity.”

Speaking of chaebols, their rise to power was in due part to the Park Chung-hee dictatorship. The Tavern Owner is none too happy to hear about the daughter of that military dictator, now President Park Geun-hye clamping down on the free press in Korea.  According to the Washington Post,

“Park Geun-hye’s administration has launched an aggressive crackdown on media outlets that run reports it considers unfavorable, leading to a raft of domestic defamation cases…”

So far, Hankyoreh has been sued for an article about the government ignoring prior reports that the ferry involved in the infamous April disaster was unsafe. Choson Ilbo and the Segye Ilbo has also been sued by presidential officials for reports about corruption amongst said officials.

To be fair, South Korea is not totalitarian North Korea. However, as Lee Cheol-hee, a political analyst put it,

“The current South Korean administration is sending a message to the press not to write adverse reports about the government…democracy has been retreating under this administration.”

 

This has signaled a turn towards a sort of ‘authoritarian-lite’ that is quite troubling. Given that South Korea is relatively new democracy (only 27 years old), freedom of the press needs strengthening, particularly after revelations that members of the National Intelligence Agency were found to have meddled with the presidential election that first brought Park Geun-hye to power.

 

Ah…politics and sports, my cup of coffee in the morning.

About Roy Ghim 454 Articles
The old Tavern Owner

1 Comment

  1. Swansea seem like 1 player away from being a legitimate force in the league. They looked so good yesterday at times. And then the other team takes advantage of a mental lapse. I don’t think Ki lost control of the ball once. He’s definitely no header though.

    She started out so well too, President Park. I had high hopes but her current 40% favorability poll numbers are painting a better picture of where she’s headed. That news about her trying to muzzle the media is really disappointing to hear if thats completely true.

    Yes. the blame game is still an epic event in Korea. That whole airline drama had to have played out like a really bad Korean soap opera with the dramatic eye piercing stares.

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