WtW Review (3/30-31) + Tidbits

Here is you Monday ‘Watching this Weekend’ review, plus a few other scores and information from the weekend. Not sure if the boss will get his usual weekend roundup up since he’s on vacay in England. I can’t do as good a job as him, but I’ll try to get the major scores and info across.

Jae’s Game of the Week(end): Bayern Munich vs Hamburg SV

I thought that this would be a difficult match for Son Heung-Min and his Hamburg side, but I certainly wasn’t prepared for what I saw. A second-string Bayern attack absolutely demolished a poor Hamburg side 9-2. Instead of Bayern’s usual attacking four, coach Jupp Heynckes went with Claudio Pizarro, Toni Kroos, Arjen Robben, and Xherdan Shaqiri. It was the Swiss midfielder, Shaqiri, who would open the scoring. Slicing through the Hamburg defense with ease. And from there the floodgates opened. Pizarro would end up scoring four (not bad for a third-choice striker), Robben with two, Shaqiri, Schweinsteiger, and Ribery (who subbed in late) would each add one.

But, I didn’t watch this game for Bayern. How did Son Heung-Min do? In short, not much. His contributions were very limited. Hamburg appeared to be playing in a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. Son was position on the wide left side of the diamond. The formation seemed to be a major contributor for Bayern’s dominance as the diamond was very wide. With Son out near the left touchline. That left the midfield fairly open for Hamburg, and Bayern exploited it, often with four players centrally. The powerful duo of Schweinsteiger and Martinez deeper, while Shaqiri would drop deeper and Kroos would drift central from the left. As such, Hamburg went a bit long ball. Often scrambling to clear the ball from danger. The Hamburg midfield couldn’t hold it, and the pressure would resume. Son, was largely reduced to spectator status before being subbed off in the 57th minute.

In many ways, Son’s performance was what I feared would happen with him. Against stronger teams, especially in midfield, he isn’t quite capable of creating and inserting himself into a game. For long periods he disappeared from the game, and while that can be normal for forwards, Son was playing in midfield where there really isn’t an excuse for it. Watching the clock, he didn’t even get a touch until 5 minutes in, and by then Bayern were already up 1-0 (he did get a touch earlier, but it was simply to deflect a pass from Lahm). Some speculative shots followed, but nothing really of note.

Europe Results

The other game that I was hoping to watch was Vitoria Setubal vs Maritimo, who young Suk Hyun-Joon plys his trade for. Unfortunately, I could not find a stream for this particular Portuguese match (there were others). Doubly unfortunate because Suk Hyun-Joon both started and scored for Maritimo. Maritimo ran out 4-2 winners.

Ki Sung-Yueng started on the bench for Swansea City, who lost to Tottenham Hotspur 2-1. Ki came off the bench in the second half, and helped contribute to Swansea’s lone goal, as a Ki corner was headed in by Michu.

Lee Chung-Yong started for Bolton in their 3-2 loss to Charlton Athletic. Lee was subbed off in the second half for Craig Davies (who was subsequently sent off deep into stoppage time). Bolton had taken the lead early 2-0, but Charlton stormed back to take a 3-2 lead. Lee was subbed off then.

Kim Bo-Kyung did not play for Cardiff in their 2-1 loss to Petersborough United.

Park Chu-Young started for Celta Vigo in their match against Barcelona. Park was involved in the build-up for Celta’s opening goal. He was later subbed off in the second half. Still slightly concerning that even with Iago Aspas out, Park cannot last the full 90 minutes.

Ji Dong-Won started the match for Augsburg, and did well. A couple close chances for goals, but unfortunately nothing went in. Augsburg would go on to lose 2-0 to Hannover 96. Koo Ja-Cheol did not make the team. I’m not exactly sure why. Perhaps someone can clue me in.

Park Jung-Bin did not play for Gruether Furth did not make the team in their 3-2 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Park Joo-Ho and FC Basel play tonight (Monday), against Luzern.

K League Classic

A quick round-up of K League Classic action. FC Seoul continues to struggle as they only managed a 2-2 draw with Gyeongnam. Pohang charged to the top of the table with a come -from-behind 2-1 victory against Chunnam. Suwon knocked off Jeonbuk 2-1 in a battle of potential contenders. Ulsan hammered Gangwon 3-0 to stay near the top. Jeju knocked off Busan 1-0. Daejeon sprang the surprise of the weekend end, knocking off Incheon United 2-1. Daegu and Seongnam drew 0-0.

J-League

So, I knew there were Koreans playing in Japan, but I had no idea just how many until I scrolled through the results for the J League. Man. There are a ton!

Jang Hyun-Soo did not make the team for FC Tokyo in their 3-2 loss to Yokohama F. Marinos. Kwon Han-Jin and Han Kook-Young both started and played the full 90 for Shonan Bellmare in their 2-0 loss to Nagoya Grumpus. Kim Chang-Soo started for Kashiwa Reysol in their 3-1 win over Oita Trinita. Kim Chang-Soo was subbed off in the 70th minute. Kim Jin-Hyun started for Cerezo Osaka in the 1-1 draw with Vegalta Sendai. Park Hyung-Jin was on the bench for Sanfrecce Hiroshima in their 4-0 win over Shimizu S-Pulse. Jubilo Iwata vs Sagan Tosu was a virtual Korean-fest with each team fielding two Koreans. On Jubilo Iwata there was Cho Byung-Kuk and Jung Woo-Young. For Sagan Tosu there was Yeo Sung-Hye and Kim Min-Woo. Cho Young-Cheol started for Omiya Ardija in their 3-1 win over Kashima Antlers. In Albirex Niigata’s 2-0 loss to Urawa Reds, there were two Koreans (for Niigata). Kim Kun-Hoan and Kim Jin-Su. Choi Sung-Keun did not appear for Ventforet Kofu in their 1-1 draw with Kawasaki Frontale.

Normal service should resume soon (meaning a better round up).

About Jae Chee 339 Articles
A football fan who got bit by the writing bug.

6 Comments

  1. Koo was injured from the game during international break, think he hurt his side and is expected to be out for about 6 weeks? Really hope he’ll be able to make it back in before the season closes… and that Augsburg is free from relegation. Though without him it’s looking tough already.

Join in the Tavern's conversations -Leave a comment...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.