Weekend Roundup Sept 21-22 / Park Ji-Sung scores + DiCanio sacked at Sunderland

This will be in 2 updates as my family is kinda ill, so the Tavern owner has temporarily become Tavern doctor.

NETHERLANDS

Eredivisie

PSV Eindhoven MF Park Ji-Sung: 90 minutes, 2 assists + goal in 4-0 win over Ajax

ENGLAND

Premier League

Sunderland MF Ki Sung-Yeung: 90 min in 3-0 loss at West Brom

Sunderland F Ji Dong-Won: unused sub in 3-0 loss at West Brom

Cardiff MF Kim Bo-Kyung: 90 in a 0-1 loss to Tottenham

Arsenal F Park Chu-Young: not in 18 in 3-1 win over Stoke

English Championship

Bolton MF Lee Chung-Yong: 62 minutes for 3-1 loss at Brighton

QPR D Yun Suk-Young: not in 18 for 1-0 win at Yeovil Town

GERMANY

Bundesliga

Mainz D Park Joo-Ho: 90 min for 4-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen

Augsburg D Hong Jeong-Ho: not in the 18 for 2-1 loss at Hannover

Bayer Leverkusen F Son Heung-Min: unused sub for 4-1 victory at Mainz

Wolfsburg MF Koo Ja-Cheol: 46 minutes in 2-1 win against Hoffenheim

SPAIN

La Liga

Almeria F Kim Young-Kiu: not in 18 in 2-2 draw with Levante

 

So a couple of weekend highlights. First is Park Ji-Sung for PSV Eindhoven with a mighty 2 assist 1 goal performance.  It was a total demolition of rivals Ajax at home. Nice to see the old man in good form there amongst the PSV young’uns. Here’s a summary of his touches on Sunday.

Meanwhile not all is well in Sunderland. After a 3-0 loss at West Bromwich Albion in what looked like a daft looney display by Paulo Di Canio post match (it’s like he engaged in some bizarre sign language mixed with playing some charades with the traveling support -followed by a stare down) the Italian manager was sacked less than 48 hours later.  Apparently the players revolted over his harsh management style – with Lee Cattermole as the player-activist in charge. One of the points in contention, Di Canio’s overly theatrical calling out of players that far exceeded what was necessary.  Earlier, Ji Dong-Won was one recipient of Di Canio’s rage- calling his header miss -‘lacking heart,’ and basically called him a coward in front of the press. Ji hasn’t played a minute since the first few matches for Sunderland since then.  Bets are on for Roberto Di Matteo to replace him – but he seems to be wary of taking on the job.  Nevertheless, what does this mean for Ji and Ki Sung-Yeung -who’s joined Ji for this very strange and wild ride?  Probably nothing for Ki as he’s assured of his starter midfield role. However there’s now a chance that Ji can emerge from under Di Canio’s crazy grudges and get another shot at a starting role as a Blackcat again. More updates on the manager hunt later.

Still staying in England, Kim Bo-Kyung mee-coo (or rather bum) was on international display after a trailing Tottenham player tried to catch up with the elusive Korean. Inadvertently, he pulled down his drawers for a brief moment, but long enough for a worldwide television audience to see. The resulting foul (I believe) ended up with a yellow card violation. Kim had yet another solid game, the ball just magnetized to his fast moving feet, but Cardiff conceded a very late 90 minute goal to win all 3 points. Tough loss for the Welsh club at home, but nearly another good result against a top 5 team.  Cardiff still look fairly tough enough to weather the Premier League storm. Here’s a recap of Kim’s superb touches (but if you have an aversion to looking at bare bums, look away).

Got to go, but first, Midweek matches to be aware of:

Almeria plays away at Malaga on Tuesday 4pm EST on BeInPlay (streaming)

Staying on Tuesday, Wolfsburg in a German cup match at home against Aalen 1 pm EST

Preußen Münster vs  Augsburg 1 pm EST (didn’t mean to highlight the opposition, but I just don’t know how to spell or use those fantastical fonts)

Mainz at home against Koln 2:30 pm

Arminia Bielefeld vs Bayer Leverkusen 2:30pm

Netherland cup match: PSV Eindhoven away at EHC, 1pm EST.

Update: I forgot to add League Cup matches in England. Starting at 2:45 pm EST, Cardiff is away at West Ham, Sunderland is home against Peterborough.

Unfortunately no TV in the US as far as I can tell, other than the online streaming available for the Almeria match on BeInPlay.

 

And last but not least, FC Seoul has their 1st leg Semifinal of the Asian Champions League tourney at home against Esteghlal (Iran) on Wednesday 6:30 am EST.