Koreans abroad weekend roundup 10.5-10.6

No goals to report -but still there’s something to be excited about: centerback Hong Jeong-Ho made his debut for Augsburg. Kind of came as a surprise as he hadn’t been on the 18 man roster since transferring over in the summer. I won’t go into detail as I think Jinseok is drafting up a report on his debut. To the roundup:

GERMANY

Bundesliga

Mainz D Park Joo-Ho: 90 min in 2-2 draw with Hoffenheim

Augsburg D Hong Jeong-Ho: 72 minutes in 4-1 loss away at Shalke [entered in the 18th minute after Ragnar Klavan’s red card dismissal].

Bayer Leverkusen F Son Heung-Min: last 22 min in 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich

Wolfsburg MF Koo Ja-Cheol: 90 min in 0-2 loss to Eintracht Braunschweig

ENGLAND

Premier League

Sunderland MF Ki Sung-Yeung: 74 in 2-1 loss to Manchester United

Sunderland F Ji Dong-Won: last 26 minutes in 2-1 loss to Manchester United

Cardiff MF Kim Bo-Kyung: 46 min in 2-1 loss to Newcastle United

Arsenal F Park Chu-Young: not in 18 in 1-1 draw with West Brom

Championship

Bolton MF Lee Chung-Yong: last 14 min in 2-1 win at Birmingham

QPR D Yun Suk-Young: not in 18 in 2-0 win over Barnsley

NETHERLANDS

Eredivisie

PSV Eindhoven MF Park Ji-Sung: not in 18 (injured) in 2-1 win at RKC Waalwijk

SPAIN

La Liga

Almeria F Kim Young-Kiu: not in 18 in 0-2 loss away at Sevilla

 

  • Tavern Points: Ki Sung-Yeung and Ji Dong-Won were both on the pitch for Sunderland – marking the first time the duo-ship has gotten to officially work together in a match. However that didn’t last too long as Ki was subbed out in the 76th minute. Ji had his first minutes in the post-DiCanio era, subbing in for Johnson in the 64th minute. Ji looked lively, fast, technically precise and was able to get the ball in dangerous places against Manchester United’s backline.  By the time Ji came in, Ki started to look like he was out of gas, but still was able to put in a decent shift for Sunderland overall. Both players worked fairly well in the 12 minutes they had together and linked up on a few occasions -it brought back some memories of Ji and Koo working together last season – trying to get some production to keep their Augsburg team alive in the Bundesliga. Meanwhile back at the Stadium of Light, Blackcats are without a win and still at the bottom of the table. Sunderland’s fixtures eases just a bit – coming up: Swansea, Newcastle, Southampton, and Hull.
  • Caretaker manager Kevin Ball’s long ball strategy to lob everything to Jozy Altidore was a bit lacking. Initially, Manchester United’s backline had some trouble containing the bulked up American – and Gardener’s gifted goal from a Vidic error was partly a result of that initial frenzied attack. Manchester United quickly figured out what Sunderland was up to -and Phil Jones basically gave no quarter to Jozy. The cringe-worthy Choi Kang-Hee-esque strategy didn’t let up, long ball after ineffective long ball –and it took an 18 year old Manchester United academy player Januzaj to show the veterans from both teams how to deliver goals.
  • Speaking of 18 year olds, I know of team in Spain who could use an 18 year old’s help. Alemeria is that team, and their bottom of the table presence might force a shake up that could give Kim Young-“Kiu” another shot at some vital minutes on the pitch.
  • I couldn’t catch the Cardiff / Newcastle game live, but I had heard “Kimbo” was taken out immediately in the 2nd half. Thanks to NBC Sport’s Live Extra, they just started to archive games for on-demand viewing – and the Tavern owner got to take in the entire 1st half —-so what exactly was this substitution all about?  He was positioned well, tracked back to help positively on defense, was lively on the ball and delivered some brilliant crosses. He had an off-balance shot that missed the frame -but not by much. He was part of a pressing Cardiff attack that looked like they were on the verge of scoring midway through the half – which became unglued once Newcastle’s Loic Remy broke the deadlock on a quick counterattack. Jordan Mutch came on for Kim for the start of the 2nd half and Cardiff’s strategy and tactics received a complete overhaul. They closed a 2 goal gap right in half thanks to Odemwingie’s goal, but fell short of a total comeback. So bottom line: can’t read too much into Kim’s substitution – based on his performance, he’s still very much a vital part of the Bluebird’s starting XI. He did get a pretty good knock — not sure if that factored in to Mackay’s decision.
  • Bolton wins their first game of the season. Good timing too as they had been suffering their worst start of a season in 111 years.
  • I need to call One World Sports yet again. After ‘possibly’ airing a K-League match (Jeju vs Inchon) last weekend, I was dismayed to see no K-League games in their schedule this weekend. If I don’t like the answer they give me – I’ll rip my shirt off and yell “TAVERN OWNER MAD! TAVERN OWNER …SMASH!”   You alls best get the fuck out of my way. But no hulk action yet – first let’s wait and hear what they say. Stay tuned.
About Roy Ghim 454 Articles
The old Tavern Owner

7 Comments

  1. Don’t know if Sunderland’s schedule is really any easier coming up. Wearside derby (Newcastle), Southampton is currently 4th (what?), and Hull is top half too. If you’re interested in Sunderland in general (and podcasts) ‘Beyond the Pitch’ put out a 20 minute interview/analysis about Sunderland in general last weekend.

    Almeria’s struggles, if anything, probably point to less Kim Young-Kiu time. More veteran heads needed to hold the defense steady and pick up some hard-fought ugly win (at least that’s what I imagine they’ll be thinking).

      • Another interesting stat for the Tavern Stats guy, currently Almeria is last with a record of 0-3-5 and 3 points. IF the game ended at 80 minutes, Almeria would be 7th(ish) with a record of 3-2-3 and 11 points.

  2. Any idea what’s wrong with Koo? At club and international level he plays with such low confidence. In the KNT, he goes into spectator mode and just watches Son and Lee Chung Yong. In Wolfsburg he just watches Diego.

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