A lot happening in the space of a few days, let’s get to it.
First up, the Korean Women’s Team faced Japan in the E1 (formerly the EAFF Tournament) on Friday, Japan edged Korea out 3:2. Hal Kaiser (who has remarkably come of retirement to help cover the Women’s side for the Tavern, starting with this preview), tweeted this out:
Highlights from Japan vs South Korea, including a nice volley by Han Chae-rin who had the spectacular goal against the USA in New Orleans. https://t.co/hQKYL5u2X6 via @YouTube
— Hal Kaiser (@Hal_Kaiser) December 8, 2017
Some positives and negatives against a perennially tough Japan squad, South Korea plays North Korea on Monday Dec 11. Stay tuned for more from the Women’s side of the E1 tournament…
On the men’s side, they played China earlier today and had the lions share of possession and for awhile looked like a turkey hunt, Korea getting shot after shot on China’s goal. It paid off with Lee Jae-Sung feeding Kim Shin-Wook for the first goal, and Lee Jae-Sung finishing brilliantly for Korea’s 2nd. However, not being able to inflict further damage came back to haunt Team Korea, defensive lapses allowed China to equalize (after conceding early in the match).
This compilation video sums it up efficiently:
Compilation video of today's match, @theKFA vs China. Click here to watch: https://t.co/ZalCJcEzew #EastAsianCup #EAFF #AsianFootball @theafcdotcom pic.twitter.com/rbM7MytOPx
— Javier Miñano Espín (@javierminano) December 9, 2017
Javier Espin by the way is the new assistant coach for Korea, hails from Spain – we welcomed him on Twitter and we”ll welcome him again here at the Tavern.
Shin Tae-Yong in post presser stated his disappointment in the defense. He noted that Korea, who are the E1 defending champs, had far too many wayward passes. Lee Jae-Sung was voted Man of the Match, Kim Shin-Wook actually scored with his feet, and Kim Jin-Su playing LB played brightly. We’ll try to get a bit more analysis from the draw with China. To note: the E1 tournament is a round robin tournament – it’s not an official FIFA event so only Asia based players involved.
Quick midweek roundup: Son scored in the last Champions League group stage match against APOEL, a comfortable 3-0 win. Son has scored (as of Wednesday – no spoiler alerts yet!) 4 out of his 5 starts for Spurs. We’ll have a video recap – it was a sweet goal if you haven’t caught it yet (but I’ve got family biz to attend to – we’ll be back soon enough). Spurs have dominated their group (that included BVB and Real Madrid!) and await the Round of 16 draw next week. Hwang Hee-Chan came on to RB Salzburg’s 0-0 Europa League draw with Marseille – they advance to Europa League round of 16 – not so for Lee Jin-Hyun and Austria Wein.
quick repost of Korean Players Abroad for weekend listing (apologies for lateness)
| Day | Time | Player | Club | Opponent | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | 10:00 AM | Lee Chung Yong | Crystal Palace | Bournemouth | NBC Gold |
| Saturday | 10:00 AM | Ki Sung Yueng | Swansea | West Brom | NBC Gold |
| Saturday | 10:00 AM | Son Heung Min | Tottenham | Stoke City | NBCSN |
| Saturday | 2:00 PM | Kwon Chang Hoon | Dijon | @Guingamp | None |
| Saturday | 2:00 PM | Suk Hyun Jun | Troyes | @Monaco | BeIn Play |
| Sunday | 9:00 AM | Lee Seung Woo | Hellas Verona | @SPAL | BeIn Play |
| Sunday | 12:00 PM | Ji Dong Won | Augsburg | Hertha Berlin | Fox Sports 2 |
| Sunday | 12:00 PM | Koo Ja Cheol | Augsburg | Hertha Berlin | Fox Sports 2 |
At this point, the 10 AM Saturday matches have already happened, but in case you haven’t checked twitter, Son had a beast of a game, possibly his best of his Spurs career. Lee Chung-Yong is out injured. That is all. Be back soon!
Is there gonna be any player at the World Cup where the talent gap between club and country is larger than what Son is gonna face?
It’s nice to see British fans/commentators praising him in huge amounts right now.
The rain of criticism of a WC cup failure from Korean netizens will probably be even larger though.
You gotta wonder if he is excited or dreading the WC..
Luckily (or unluckily) Korea isn’t expected to do much in the Group of Death. Unless Son goes through the WC without a goal…
I think at some point the media will let up and blame the team, if Son is putting in top-quality performances individually they’ll recognize that.
Honestly, right now the greatest worry is the defense. Going forwards we have options, but the lack of a quality fullback or centreback will be the downfall. And given that we haven’t taken the time to properly establish a defensive unit/system like Iran have, the cohesion just isn’t there (see the EAFF game vs China)
SHIN TY OUT! ANYBODY IN!
Not this again…
I like you, Tim… but 1 win out of 7 matches? Am I crazy or even considered unrealistic in any sense? The dude has won 1 game! WC is around the corner. We need a real manager!
We can’t start over again. If you think firing and hiring another manager makes the KNT job more attractive to foreign managers, or even attractive to Korean managers… it’s called a poisoned chalice for a reason. It’s Shin Taeyong all the way, even if you’re right, the performances haven’t been great.
Who would take the job? Do you think 6 months is enough for a foreign manager to come in and coach this team out of the gigantic hole they’re in?
As a defensive player, you have to be aware of where other players are on the pitch and especially in the box. Time after time, I see KNT defenders all focused on the player with the ball and unaware that there are other players moving into position to receive a pass. End result is an uncontested goal for the other team.
Too many apologists for Shin… he wasn’t the right guy for u-20 and u-23… his selections and substitutions are terrible… he had one shining moment vs Colombia but that was probably Grande’s inclusion. Don’t forget the 6 other fucking games where you pulled your hair out when he was in charge, you fucking lemmings.
Hey hey lemmings? Don’t make me call the Tavern bouncer 😉
I’m sorry. Shin brings out the worst in me.
It’s okay. Tavern bouncer is a friendly dude. We’re not Shin Taeyong fanatics either, but I think generally among the writing crew (with the odd dissenting opinion) we’re stuck with Shin and that’s that. Keep on commenting, it livens up discussion, and that’s always good 🙂