November 12, 2012
Of course this is old news -2 days to be precise, but running a metaphorical Tavern and making sure your son’s 4 year old birthday party with screaming pre-schoolers is magic ensures that something loses out. I had for a moment considered a whole weekend of utterly selfish football depravity, but the thought of a sad faced little boy absent his father extinguished such a plan. That doesn’t mean I don’t love all you good Tavern goers, but family comes first (are you satisfied yobo?).
All right, back to procrastinating at your office desks, it’s the Monday morning edition of the Taeguk Tavern Kickaround!
First: Lee Chung-Yong has regained his mojo and is back to form for Bolton. Both he and the club had suffered early in this campaign to promotion from the N-Power Championship division; Lee had been benched for a number of games during the waning days of Owen Coyle’s managerial spell. Since getting sacked, new manager Dougie Freeman loosed Lee from the bench and his 32+ minutes on Saturday at Blackpool rewarded the club with a goal in the 71st minute, putting Bolton ahead 2-1. ‘Chungy’ slid towards the net whilst chasing Chris Eagles’ cross; he got to the ball first despite defensive traffic and blasted it in the net. Alas, Nathan Delfouneso equalized in the 81st minute for Blackpool, denying the Wanderers the full 3 points on the road.
Meanwhile, Ki Sung-Yeung went a solid 90+ minutes in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Southampton. He again provided calm and efficient directing of the ball through the midfield, helping Swansea win the majority of possession throughout the game. Ki just about got his first goal in the 20th minute, with only a split second reaction from netminder Gazzaniga kept the scoreline clean. Despite Southampton’s breaking the deadlock first, Nathan Dyer took advantage of Japan international Maya Yoshida when he failed to control a pass from Gazzaniga in the 74th minute. Dyer dispossessed Yoshida and drove the ball just a few short yards before firing a shot that clanged off the post, bouncing slightly in towards the net. In stoppage time, Ki pursued Jason Puncheon deep in Swansea territory, slide tackled the ball cleanly away, but hurt his hamstring in the process. He will be out of action while recovering for an estimated 10 days.
Kim Bo-Kyung started on Saturday and went the full 90 minutes for the first time; even more impressive for the Taeguk Warrior – he was declared Man of the Match in Cardiff’s 2-1 victory over Hull. Cardiff continues their historic home win streak, while Kim’s stock with the club continues to climb. The Tavern’s very first podcast in fact was on the subject of Kim Bo-Kyung’s acclimation to Cardiff City with Tavern contributor CJay. In case you missed it, it’s available here.
Park Ji-Sung continued his absence from QPR’s lineup; QPR remains winless with a 1-0 loss to Stoke. While Park is recovering from a knee injury sustained in a training clash several weeks ago, QPR still cannot find a way to get in gear. It’s rumour, but a strong one at that concerning the ‘Mark Hughes countdown’ – the countdown to when the board will finally sack him. Meanwhile, Jamie Mackie is making his intentions known that he is gunning for Captain Park’s starting spot in the lineup. The Ealing Gazette reported this bid from the Scottish international, “Mackie is determined to make the Korean wait on the bench like he has been forced to in recent times.” Park has since returned to training with the team, but according to the Park Foundation, he still has trouble running at full speed.
Park Chu-Young was an unused substitute in Celta Vigo’s 3-2 loss to Rayo Vallecano. He has been a regular 2nd half substitute lately, but a red card to Celta defender Gustavo Cabral in the 39th minute all but ensured that the shift towards a defensive minded game would leave Park out. SportalKorea contributor Santiago Perez talked to Paco Herrera on Park’s lack of minutes recently, revealing a definite trend before and after Park’s departure for South Korea’s World Cup Qualifier against Iran earlier in October. You can read all about that here.
Koo Ja-Cheol’s encouraging development: he started his first game and played the full 90 minutes for Augsburg since getting sidelined with an ankle tendon injury very early in the season. They lost 3-1 to Borrusia Dortmund.
Son Heung-Min got in 90 minutes for Hamburg; they played to a scoreless draw at Freiburg. Son had a good look at goal in the 15th minute, but his shot was knocked away by Freiburg’s keeper Oliver Baumann.
Cha Du-Ri was not in the 18 man roster for Fortuna Dusseldorf in a 1-1 draw at home with Hoffenheim. Not sure if he’s injured or if he has another family emergency. He missed Dusseldorf’s first couple of matches due to a vaguely worded family emergency.
Ji Dong-Won not in the 18 man roster for Sunderland last Saturday. They lost again, this time 2-1 against Stoke. Martin O’Neil’ side hasn’t won a game in…not sure when they won a game last. In a sort of development, O’Neil finally put in a young talented Blackcat prospect who hasn’t had any minutes on the pitch yet: Conner Wickham. He was substituted on in the 89th minute. Ji has yet to appear for Sunderland this year. Could this be the signal that Ji is waiting for? Or am I grasping through the rubbish pile in any hints of Ji coming back on for this hapless team?
Finally, the U-19 South Korean team won 4-1 vs Iran in the AFC U-19 Championship quarterfinals on Sunday. An impressive offensive surge on display with goals from Moon Chang-jin, Lee Gwang-hun, Kim Seung-jun, and Kwon Chang-hoon. There’s been some sighting of European club scouts sniffing around the tournament. The U-19 Taeguk Warriors face Uzbekistan on Wedensday 7 am EST in the semifinals. Here’s the highlights:
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