Weekend Roundup (11-23/24) UPDATED

Korean players in Europe during the weekend: Kim Bo-Kyung scored, Ki Sung-Yeung had a good outing but Sunderland suffered more bad luck, and Park Joo-Ho played as a LB this time for Mainz…

Roy here, aka Tavern Owner -thanks to Jae for getting the roundup table up and running! I’ll interject a bit further…

Tavern Owner Talking points:

• First to Lee Chung-Yong, he put in a relatively good 90 minute shift for Bolton in their 1-0 win at Watford -but as we mentioned about his finishing -leaves something to be desired:

Chance! Lee finds space in the left channel and lofts an effort over Bond and the bar! (61) 0-1 #WATvBOL

— Official BWFC (@OfficialBWFC) November 23, 2013

• Bolton has managed to pull themselves up from the relegation pile and with 3 wins in a row are now in 15th, 7 long points away from a playoff spot.
• Park Joo-Ho started for Mainz -but instead of playing left wing -returned to left back. How did he do? According to a translation of the Allgemeine Zeitung, a local Mainz paper, not too bad:Had the left-back under control. Extremely snappy in the tackle, brave in the forward movement. Although he somewhat subsided in the second half, he is a clear starting candidate. (Thanks to Takeuchi from his BSK post).
• Ki Sung-Yeung did well under the circumstances for Sunderland in their battle to move out of relegation. But talk about a club having their share of bad luck (and this club has had more than their share this season), in Saturday’s match against Stoke, Wes Brown was given a red card. Here’s ESPN FC on the matter: “…referee Kevin Friend deemed a sliding tackle from Brown on Adam that won the defender the ball – and replays suggested any contact between the players had been minimal – to be worthy of a straight red card, a call that left Black Cats boss Gus Poyet fuming.”   It was only a matter of time before Stoke took advantage and Sunderland ended up losing 0-2. They are now in the basement – level on points with Crystal Palace.
• Bayer Leverkusen is looking to Son Heung-Min to play a more decisive role in their Champions League group match this Wednesday now that Sidney Sam is injured – going out on a thigh injury last Saturday.  While Son didn’t score last Saturday in their 1-0 win against Hertha, his previous match was a breakout performance, Son’s first hat trick in the Bundesliga. Bayer Leverkusen moved to 2nd place, leapfrogging Borussia Dortmund when they lost 3-0 to Bayern Munich. For Leverkusen’s opponent on Wednesday?  Why it’s the team Kim Bo-Kyung scored on for his first goal in the Premiership last Sunday, Manchester United. Let’s see if Son can make it two Koreans in a row to score on Man U in the span of a few days.

By the way, here’s a conversation I had with the Tavern wife yesterday:

Tavern Owner: Hey yobo, what do you say -let’s take a trip to San Antonio Texas in late January mid week.

Tavern Wife: What? Why?

Tavern Owner: oh…just because …I’ve never been to San Antonio… and it’d be a good time for a vacation…and it’ll be warm there in January.

Tavern Wife: what are you up to?

Tavern Owner: what are you talking about – I’ve only been to Texas once and that was 13 years ago – ok fine, the Korean National team is playing Mexico there, alright?

Needless to say, the trip wasn’t approved. Here’s a promo for the now confirmed event:

Tickets are now on sale, it went live this morning. Price ranges from $40-$175. Korea won the last encounter 1-0 in 2006.

Likely there will be a KNT vs USMNT match as well, details are being worked out according to the Washington Post.