Scary fixtures this weekend awaits, but do check out Jae’s K-League weekend listings -split table in full effect with all the fly-by-seat-of-yo-pants action between escaping the black hole of relegation and the throttling for the coveted Asian Champions League spots. Now then, the Korean ballers in Europe (courtesy of Korean Footballers Abroad):
Day | Time (ET) | Player | Club | Opponent | TV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Friday | 3:30 PM | Hong Jeong Ho | Augsburg | @Schalke | GolTV |
Friday | 3:45 PM | Lee Chung Yong | Bolton | @Norwich City | BeIn (delay to 7 PM) |
Saturday | 10:30 AM | Son Heung Min | Bayer Leverkusen | @Hamburg | None |
Saturday | 10:30 AM | Koo Ja Cheol | Mainz | Werder Bremen | None |
Saturday | 10:30 AM | Park Joo Ho | Mainz | Werder Bremen | None |
Saturday | 11:00 AM | Kim Bo Kyung | Cardiff City | Leeds United | None |
Saturday | 11:00 AM | Yun Suk Young | QPR | @Chelsea | NBCSN |
Saturday | 11:00 AM | Ki Sung Yueng | Swansea | @Everton | NBC Extra Time |
Saturday | 1:30 PM | Ji Dong Won | Dortmund | @Bayern Munich | GolTV |
Saturday | 4:15 PM | Suk Hyun Jun | CD Nacional | @Porto | None |
Sunday | 9:30 AM | Kim Jin Su | Hoffenheim | @Gladbach | GolTV |
Another reminder about K-League games this weekend, east coast US viewers (Tavern owner included) will have to make viewing part of their post-party routine as many of the games start at 1 am. However, west coast Tavern goers will have the advantage, 10pm PST games could make streaming a K-league game the center of the party. Somebody make this happen -and take an instagram of it – I’ll say it right here and right now we’ll post pics. Holla! {I’ve been told by my the Tavern Age-Appropriateness Monitor that I’m too old to be hollering ‘holla’ at everyone. He tells me to ‘chill’. Who the f*ck is this guy? Get the hell out of my Tavern! Out! On your way!)
Ok, so Park Chu-Young, Nam Tae-Hee, Lee Keun-Ho, Han Kook-Young, all these guys are plying the trade in the mid east. What do I think about that? Short of happy, it’s not a truly competitive environment in the way top flight European football is, but at least they’re getting regular minutes. And then there’s Asamoah Gyan, he also is based in the mid east, and still able to be effective for the Ghana Black Stars despite leaving the Premier League 2 years ago. So I guess it’s possible that some Koreans in the ‘desert’ (as some people have derisively dubbed those leagues,) it might not be an entirely negative experience. We shall see…
[table “” not found /]Apparently there are Thursday league games in the Middle East. Some Koreans have already played, here’s a quick roundup:
Park Chu-Young played 90 minutes for Al Shabab in a scoreless affair with Al Raed.
Cho Young-Chol played 90 for Qatar SC in a 1-1 draw with Al Khariyath / Han Kook-Young not in the 18 for Qatar SC.
Lee Myeong-Joo and Al Ain are on break in the United Arab Emirates until Nov 30th.
*** wait a tic, isn’t Kwak Tae-Hwi and Al Hilal, already with a Halloween date with Al Faisaly — well check this: following day is the 2nd leg of the Asian Champions League title match with Western Syndney?!? I’m wondering if the league match will be postposed due to the Asian Champions League finals so close. Anyway, Al Hilal are down 1-0 in aggregate from the 1st leg game, bit of a uphill struggle for them to capture the title but stranger things have happened.
ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL (2nd leg)
Al Hilal vs Western Sydney Saturday at 1:30pm EST / 2:30 am Korea time
Quick note on European games:
Raft of injuries: Ji Dong-Won (knee injury), Koo Ja-Cheol (flu?) join Kim Jin-Su (several weeks away from full recover). Good news: Park Joo-Ho rejoined his Mainz teammates in practice this week, but not sure if he’ll make the lineup on Saturday.
Yun Suk-Young is back on track, high praise from Gary Neville among others for his first 2 EPL starts, but QPR are facing Chelsea – who might have that force of momentum to stop QPR from getting consecutive wins. And yet, 2 years ago when they last faced each other, QPR was able to get a win (I think Park Ji-Sung put in a good shift and an assist? Where’s the Tavern Statistician?).
While it’s unlikely Kim Bo-Kyung will get any time with this new-ish Cardiff management, with Yun suddenly coming back to the scene, will it be Kimbo’s return from the dead? It’s Halloween weekend, so – why not? Cross your zombie fingers and bloody paws.
Eh, Son didn’t have the best game on Wednesday obviously. Red card silliness from a young man who’s been on form for the most part of the year. But having eeked out a 5-4 penalty win against a 4th tier team, Leverkusen will be exhausted against Hamburg, but look for Son to work out some anger issues from midweek and perhaps score some against his old team.
Lee Chung-Yong been on a roll since moving to center mid, Neil Lennon’s injected some optimism and US viewers will get a rare chance to see Bolton and Eng Championship as it will be on BeIn Sports.
Ki Sung-Yeung meanwhile has been spot on for Swansea all season. Great lineup on Saturday as Swans will face Everton and ex Swans manager Robert Martinez.
Not at all related to Korean chugu, I’m a huge Flaming Lips fan, but their misadventure in covering the entire Dark Side of the Moon album a few years ago was folly. When I heard the news, I thought they were about to wander into another fail by attempting a sacrilegious redo of the whole Sgt Peppers album. The audacity! Burn them at the stake! And yet, listening to the preview stream on NPR, I was surprised and blown away. It’s very cheeky, experimental at times and balancing reverence with punk ‘tude and an electronic kitchen sink thrown in that spiritually seems appropriate for a album like Sgt Peppers. Worth checking out, it’s just been released.
Lastly, If in the US, do remember to vote for the midterms next week. Historically younger people tend to forget to vote in the midterms, to which conservative candidates take advantage of. There’s a growing disenfranchisement of minority voters, evidenced by Texas and other efforts by tea party activists in other states to enforce voter-id laws (ironically recent actual cases of voter fraud has emerged from GOP corners). For such supposed lack of interest in the midterms, thanks to the hyper-insane Citizens United Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited campaign money to influence peddle, this already is the most expensive election in US history. Money = Speech. Bill Maher put this out about the distracted US voter:
and the Daily Show in Austin this past week (Jae’s freaky hometown) put a spotlight on the Koch Brothers and their attempts to buy power with millions in hush sneaky PAC funds:
Get wid it young people, vote mofo, VOTE!
Would Love to see Nam tae hee att PSV Eindhoven, think the style of playing fast football should suit him -_-
i would Also like to see kim shin wook and yun il lok to europe! No military service 🙂
I ve always supported this idea
Yay! It’s the “music that doesn’t pertain to Korean soccer” tag! heh…
Thanks for covering for me Roy.
tavern guys just curious….do you use google adwords?
No (at least not that I’m aware of).
Its ok to post links right? Swansea Everton write-up. I like the Daily Mail for some reason. Its a complete rag but I like the way they present their stories and for some odd reason this rag tends to have a lot more detail than other news sources. Some cool pics.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2816956/Everton-0-0-Swansea-Jonjo-Shelvey-sees-red-Toffees-held-defiant-Swans-Goodison-Park.html
Great action shots there – love that grimace Ki puts on there!
Every Korean Buli team lost that played on Saturday
Outside of Ki, Bony is one of my faves….I hope one day KNT can have a rock of a striker like this guy. Dude is so damn strong on the ball. I love players like this