Son did it again, he is literally a BVB killer. Watch as Castro finds him in center, deftly rounds the keeper -with a tight angle, look what Son did on Saturday:
Hipster coach Jurgen Klopp may be envisioning Son in his nightmares. Maybe he already has. Rewind over a year: Son Heung-Min started much like his struggling Hamburg side last season, not scoring much and losing plenty. As the season looked to spiral downward, a burst of optimism for Hamburg came in the first 3 minutes of what looked like a daunting match with Borussia Dortmund. Son’s header revitalized his club and his second goal won the game and kickstarted what eventually became a breakout year for him. And to think it all started with a brace against Borussia Dortmund. As devastating for that was for BVB, Son repeated it again later in the season. Hamburg, despite not finishing as a European qualifying side, somehow managed to defeat the eventual European runners-up twice last season. Fast forward to Saturday, Jurgen Klopp instructed his backline to stop Son – knowing full well what he’s capable of. Bottom line: the only goal of the game belonged to Son – giving Bayer Leverkusen all 3 crucial points to distance themselves from BVB and solidify 2nd place in the Bundesliga. They are 4 points behind the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut, Bayern Munich. Bayer is on a roll, winning their last 4 matches. Funny thing though, later in the game Son could have / should have had a brace on Saturday. Son was released and was 1-1 with the keeper. His shot was just barely deflected by the keeper and wide of the net.
Son now has 7 goals in the Bundesliga season, tied with his injured teammate Sidney Sam. He has the same number of goals as Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller. For comparison, teammate Stephan Kiebbling has 9, second to league leader Robert Lewandowski (BVB) with 11.
Side note: I didn’t realize this earlier, but a report from Choson Ilbo said Son’s double against Nurnberg in midweek was remarkable in this aspect: he has a left footed and right footed goal. Skills! Last Son related item, here’s an interview he gave directly after the match:
Yesh, you’d think this was the Tavern of Son Heung-Min…(trademarked already).
Ok round up time (finally):
[table “” not found /]Tavern points:
- Injury time over: Koo Ja-Cheol’s back in Wolfsburg lineup. Perhaps we’ll see him with some playing time in the next game.
- Another player returning from the land of the injured: Park Ji-Sung. Unfortunately his time on for PSV saw the tail end of a terrible loss.
- Park Joo-Ho keeps switching positions for Mainz. Now he’s a center defensive mid. How did he do? His assist – getting a pass to his Japanese partner Shinji Okazaki who finished nicely made for a rare Korean / Japanese positive connection. They embraced afterward – ah football – only this sport can truly bring these regional rivals together. But when it comes to the Haniljeon? Game on.
- Worrying trend (not that we spend too much time wringing our hands): our Taeguk Warrior center back of choice, Hong Jeong-Ho has sat out the last few matches for Augsburg.
- Are the Blackcats of Sunderland the unluckiest team in all of the Premiership? There was a CLEAR handball in the area from Spur’s Sandro that the ref ignored. That would’ve been the potential equalizer had the penalty kick been awarded.
- Ki played – ok. He was playmaking well for Sunderland, but as the game wore on the 2nd half, he started getting pinned down. Cattermole came on as a sub allowed Ki license to move forward. Dangerous further up the pitch to an extent, but some uncharacteristic misplaced passes extinguished some promising runs. Ki looked like he had some good opportunities to shoot -but chose to pass instead. The loss keeps them cemented at the foot of the table, 5 points behind Fulham and Crystal Palace.
- Ji Dong-Won still not appearing for the ‘new look’ Blackcats. If things keep going the way they are – Gus Poyet probably needs to look at some options, like using Ji before they lose him in January to a Bundesliga team.
- Of course Park Chu-Young wasn’t in the lineup. But Nick Bendtner scored midweek for Arsenal. So did ex-Gooner Chamakh (for Crystal Palace against Cardiff). Bendtner hasn’t scored for Arsenal in about 3 years. Pure utter speculation: could we see Park Chu-Young in the lineup again as Wenger mulls over rotation options? Before we say ‘not bloody likely,’ stranger things have happened (like Man U and Man City and Chelsea all losing the same day).
- Positive development: Kim Young-Kiu made an appearance for Almeria, in a Spanish Cup game. He put in a 33 minute 2nd half shift. No goals scored for him.
Meanwhile some good news re: Yun Suk-Young:
Paul Dickov confirms Yun Suk-Young could be back at the club on Thursday #drfc
— Doncaster Rovers FC (@drfc_official) December 7, 2013
Last items to mention: FIFA announced some game time changes in the upcoming World Cup in Brazil. Some games that’s affected in Group H:
Sunday, 22 June
Belgium v Russia, 17:00 (from 23:00) in Rio de Janeiro
South Korea v Algeria, 20:00 (from 17:00) in Porto Alegre
Son scored a goal against Bayern Munich once in the 2011-12 season but he never scored against Bayern since then. Son is a BVB killer but he should start scoring goals against Bayern Munich.