Before we begin, this entire recap and listing is all Korean Footballers Abroad – aka skimmilk. We aggregate -with love. As we continue the Son Heung-Min adoration for his FA Cup heroics, a quick word about the growing threat of fascism that has overtaken the US lately.
No doubt, you heard of the chaos in the airports, families of refugees from the middle east torn apart by this irrational and bigoted executed order by Trump over the weekend. The US soccer community has weighed in as well, as the practical aspects of this travel ban imposes a logistical nightmare -since football is in all sense of the word, a global sport. I never thought I would see this in my country – in my lifetime. As a son of refugees who fled the Korean war, it is with incredible horror and disappointment to see a country that has in many ways reflected the ideals of a pluralistic and civilized society turn its back on refugees fleeing war torn regions in Syria. All for absolutely misleading and hateful rhetoric about national security – when there has yet to be a single documented incident of terrorism or violence in the US from Syrian refugees. The protests are coming not only from thousands flooding airports demanding shackled legal visa passport holders and greencard holders be freed – it has come from minority leaders of all stripes, religious leaders, athletes, and people who voted for trump but didn’t think he’d actually install a Muslim ban. I saw it today as the British parliment debated how to respond to trump’s bigoted policy that is enraging the world and reducing global security in it’s wake. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr, NASCAR racer tweeted out:
@GelarBudidarma my fam immigrated from Germany in 1700s escaping religious persecution. America is created by immigrants. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) January 29, 2017
The south is going to have to ponder that over some. And if they come to the same conclusion as Dale Jr…they’s gonna be a reckoning…
We, the people, from all over the world, stand opposed to one of the greatest dangers to have emerged in our lifetimes – and that is the very real threat of fascism that has entered through the doors of the White House. Alternative facts? 1984 in 2017? The worst, I fear, is yet to come. But for my kids, for the next generation, I have to believe that we will eventually overcome.
To Korean Footballers Abroad weekend roundup and midweek listing -all action will be on Tuesday Jan 31…Stay with us after the jump
Tomorrow’s the end of the January window so I write this with some uncertainty. The most likely to move seems to be Lee Chung Yong right now, with predominantly Championship clubs linked for a loan deal. Less likely seem Swansea where Allardyce would probably be unwilling to sell to direct relegation competition.
Also rumored is Suk Hyun Jun whose loan to Turkey hasn’t played out to anyone’s expectations. We’ll see if any Portuguese teams take a gamble.
| Day | Time (ET) | Player | Club | Opponent | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | 12:00 PM | Kwon Chang Hoon | Dijon | @Bordeaux (Cup) | None |
| Tuesday | 2:45 PM | Lee Chung Yong | Crystal Palace | @Bournemouth | NBC Extra Time |
| Tuesday | 2:45 PM | Ki Sung Yueng | Swansea | Southampton | NBC Extra Time |
| Tuesday | 2:45 PM | Son Heung Min | Tottenham | @Sunderland | NBC Extra Time |
| Off | n/a | Ji Dong Won | Augsburg | ||
| Off | n/a | Koo Ja Cheol | Augsburg | ||
| Off | n/a | Park Joo Ho | Dortmund |
Kwon Chang Hoon — Still not eligible and from the sounds of it, not quite physically ready anyway.
Lee Chung Yong — He played 90 and apparently didn’t do anything terrible but also didn’t earn any praises either. Maybe it was his last chance to impress Allardyce, as the quantity of rumors are loud. I guess we’ll find out quickly if he’s going to be loaned out or stay. I’m indifferent between the two… he’s struggled at times in the Championship and Allardyce has used him here and there in the PL. Bench if he stays.
Ki Sung Yueng — He’s back in the squad but we’ll see how Clement lines em up. I suspect he’ll be on the bench if Fer is ok, but it could be 50/50 with him coming into Fer’s spot across from Carroll, or less likely, in for Cork at the base.
Son Heung Min — A weird performance, where both goals were kinda lucky deflections, but he was also often the most dangerous player on the pitch, causing lots of chaos with his pace and quickness. But his shooting was really poor, and his dribbles weren’t great either. Kind of a mixed bag… I think he’s still 12th man right now, but maybe his two important goals helped narrow the gap back to the first XI.
Ji Dong Won — A pretty lackluster performance from Ji, who looked sluggish. Playing out wide in an industrious role in 4-1-4-1, Ji’s contributions were some good passes and work rate, but he was pretty passive as it looks like he’s re-adjusting to the wider role again. I think Bobadilla’s better wide but he was barely walking at the end, so perhaps this is how they’ll go until he’s fully fit. Maybe Schmid’s return might mean that Ji can play in CAM instead.
Koo Ja Cheol — A decent showing from Koo… industrious as he often is and some decent skill to push the ball forward from his deeper role. Of course he had his stupid fouls, and sometimes too tricky when a basic ball would do, but a huge win and Koo was a good part of that.
Park Joo Ho — No change and lack of rumors seem to indicate that he’s ok with his “role”.
Follow Korean Footballers Abroad on twitter @KoreaFootAbroad
>Tavern owner intruding, Heon has been an absolute saint, he’s a youtuber who has catalogued Son’s ball touches. Check out Son’s performance last Saturday and his last second goal to allow Spurs to advance to the 5th round of the FA Cup.
I’ll have some additional thoughts on the jetlag problems, particularly Asian footballers in Europe have when they get called up for national home games – the Tavern research staff has finally made good and has some excellent data to share (wait…did they really do the research?). Anyway, there is data, it’s very interesting and it is applicable to European based Korean footballers. I’ll share that on my next roundup.
Extra Time: I’ve been thinking about lately Ghostbusters, the original one. You know, “up is down, left is right, dogs and cats -living together…mass hysteria” In other words, armageddon. I never thought that if we could choose the method of our destruction, it would come in the form of an orange haired clown.
All joking aside, if you’re a Tavern goer and you reside in the US, call your senators, call your representatives, call your Governor every day. If Son and Spurs are playing – during halftime -call your congressmen. Resist fascism, and you tell them that the travel ban is unconstitutional and UNAMERICAN. You tell them the old Tavern owner sent ya. Peace, Love and Resistance.
Anyone in the US, is it really bad right now? Like, even for Koreans/Asians?
I’m in the States. Born and bred. It’s really bad bro. The other day, I was walking down the street, and I slipped on a banana peel. Racist! lol jk. It’s not as bad as the media makes it seem. Day to day, it’s not very different from when Obama was president, but that could be because I’m in California, where it’s pretty liberal and a mixed pot.
Bad for Koreans at the moment? No not necessarily, Koreans aren’t targeted but the problem is an overarching one. there have been up to 200 detained at airports on Saturday, chaos and confusion over how to implement the quasi Muslim ban, followed by court orders partially rescinding Trump’s executive action, in effect those detained nationwide had to be let go. Yet there have been people, some of whom were legal greencard holders who were detained for over 24 hours in shackles, and still there are some homeland security agents refusing to follow court orders to release those detained. Iraqis who served as US translators at great personal risk were shackled and held without access to attorneys. Families split apart literally, and even now, thousand of families in limbo -stuck at airports around the world as this haphazard and bigoted travel ban suddenly and without warning put into place. There are church organizations waiting for Syrian refugees to resettle who were flying in over the weekend, suddenly having to talk to the state department wondering where the families are. This should be alarming to everyone as this is one of several areas in which trump and his surrogates are dangerously implementing fascist racist and bigoted ideology as US official policy. That should concern us all, even Koreans who are not currently in Trump’s crosshairs.
hey did Korea have the same FIFA ranking for like 2 or 3 months now?
unchanged since dec but I want to say Korea has been inching up from 48 in early fall
You know who really got screwed – people who worked with the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are soldiers, police, interpreters, guides, politicians, teachers, or just folk who supported the US (women, teachers, activists, etc). Now many of them are being chased by ISIS or displaced by war, and they’re looking to get away – but of course, suddenly the USA considers all refugees from their country to be suspicious, so tough luck, you’re on your own. Some of those who worked closely with the military received explicit documentation promising they’d be fast-tracked if they chose to immigrate to the US – which is now worthless. Because they might be terrorists – even if they are homeless and hungry and wounded, and they’re actually being hunted by terrorists, having fought against terrorists, alongside American soldiers, which is why they’re refugees.
It’s been an odd transition for the conservatives in America. They went from Dubya Bush-era “we care about the world, as long as you’re on our side and do what we say” interventionism to Trump-era “we don’t care about the world, even if it’s in our interests” isolationism. Trump’s supporters just wanna wrap themselves up in a thick blanket, in the fetal position, covering their eyes and ears, with their head buried in the ground, pretending that nothing outside of the world they imagine exists. Economic issues, political crossroads, whatever – let’s just build a wall, block everything out, and pretend everything is okay forever. And if anyone says different, we’ll just accuse them of lying on Twitter and continue living in the fantasy of our own creation.
Trump and his guys – basically they’re just in denial. Problems don’t exist – except problems created by people we don’t like that have easy solutions. Slap on those easy solutions and now nothing is wrong forever. And Trump and his guys have the riches and wealth to buy that reality for themselves, and benefit from having lived in a lifetime of self-delusion and denial that money can buy. And they’ve successfully convinced a whole bunch of people that “listen to me and this reality can be yours, too!” and “It’s all ‘s fault and all we have to do is and then we’re all gonna be fine!”
Because that’s a whole lot more attractive to believe than, “Times are tough, life is unfair, problems exist and the answers aren’t simple, and nothing worth having ever came easy.” What a downer! Let’s just make America great again – can’t be harder than saying it, right?
I have always hated politics, now I hate it even more than I already did, which I didn’t think was possible
Yeah, here in Oz we are just hearing all the news and its pretty shocking, was wondering if the lowkey racists have just come out of their shells and going all out since Trump came into power was all.
Far out, pretty sad and scary!