Ji Dong-Won Scores First Goal for Augsburg

February 24, 2013

Class finish, Ji Dong-Won scores a crucial goal for Augsburg in their 2-1 victory over Hoffenheim. It came right before the end of the first half, take a look:
In the second half, Ji continued on a torrid pace but got tangled up with Hoffenheim’s Vestergaard on a set piece attack in the 70th minute. He was writhing in pain, clutching his left ankle. Vestergaard for his part earned a late yellow card. Taken off the field, he came back into play, only to go down clutching his left ankle again. He was subbed out and then it was Koo Ja-Cheol’s turn to join in the fun. He provided a beauty of a through ball to Sascha Molders, who fired in the 2nd goal in the 79th. Koo registered the assist [take a look via daum media – not sure how long this link will remain up]. Hoffenheim made things interesting by scoring in stoppage time, but Augsburg hung on for the win. They leapfrog over Hoffenheim to occupy 16th place, but are 9 points behind the last safety position, held currently by Wolfsburg, Koo’s parent club.

*We’re not sure the extent of the ankle injury for Ji. We’ll try to keep you updated when we learn more of his condition.

In other Saturday games, it just wasn’t Hamburg’s day. A pretty horrific 5-1 loss to Hanover 96. Son Heung-Min did have a few chances to score, but otherwise contributed to a collective team wide loss of form and composure.

Looking over to the English Championship, the rout was on in Bolton’s rapid fire demolition of Hull City, winning by a score of 4-1. Starting in the 8th minute with a goal by Darren Pratley, assist provided by Lee Chung-Yong – the Wanderers would proceed to score 3 times in the following 6 minutes. That win raises Bolton within 10 points of a promotion playoff spot and gives some breathing room for Cardiff, who are only 5 points separation at the top from 2nd place Hull.

It is painful to watch Park Ji-Sung on the bench at QPR. Harry Rednapp’s side sure could’ve used a class veteran midfielder to glue together a coherent offense in place against Manchester United today. Inexplicably, Rednapp continued to snub Park, using some ineffective players like Granero instead.  Manchester United exploited the club’s dysfunction and beat them down at Loftus Road 0-2.  Clearly, Rednapp has something against Park, but to continue to snub his services when the team could’ve used an experienced quality midfielder is baffling. QPR’s survival in the Premiership is looking increasingly doubtful, forcing Yun Suk-Young to confront the wisdom of his decision to join the Rangers.

We eagerly await the League Cup Final at Wembley stadium. It’s T-Minus 10 hours and 30 minutes to go until Ki Sung-Yeung and Swansea take the field against Bradford. Take a look at yesterday’s post for an unorthodox preview of the game. That post previews other games on Sunday including Park Chu-Young and Celta Vigo vs Grenada, Kim Bo-Kyung and Cardiff trying to hold on to first place at Wolverhampton, and possibly Park Jung-Bin and Greuther Furth Vs Bayer Leverkusen.

Have a great night and stay safe. Chal Ga-yo.