Kim Bo-Kyung Scores for Cardiff / Sunday Tavern Listings

January 20, 2013

There was speculation that Kim Bo-Kyung would be lifted from the bench and return to Cardiff’s starting XI against Blackpool on Saturday. Indeed he made his start, and it wound up being a performance to remember as he knocked in his 2nd goal of the season. The goal came in the 54 minute and broke the deadlock to bring the visitors ahead 1-0.  Earlier in the first half, he had one of Cardiff’s best chances to get on the scoreboard first, but after receiving a Conway cross in the box, he spun around and delivered a strike that beat the keeper to the far post; it narrowly missed wide of the target. He didn’t give up and in the 2nd half with no score yet, Tommy Smith intercepted a Blackpool pass and immediately released “Kimbo,” who proceded to drive deep into Blackpool territory. It quickly developed into a opportunity for Aron Gunnarsson to tap in open shot on net, only that it bounced off the near post. Kim scrambled into the box, past the unsuspecting defensemen and slammed Gunnarsson’s post rebound past the keeper for the go ahead score. 6 minutes later Blackpool would equalize, but Kim started things rolling for the Bluebirds, gaining momentum on the counterattack. At centerfield he sent an brilliant long pass to Andrew Taylor, which created room for him to maneuver in the left flank. His cross however was blocked but somehow Tommy Smith got onto the airborne ball and redirected a volley into the net for the eventual game winner. Here’s an edited recap of some of the highlights from the match. (Kim’s contributions come at 1:20, 3:32 and 5:25 in the video).

Cardiff now commands a herculean 10 point lead on top of the English Championship League. Resuming the Swansea and Cardiff Welsh derby in the Premiership next season?  It’s probably in the bag.

Lee Chung-Yong put in a good shift for Bolton in their away match at Crystal Palace, but the end result was a scoreless affair for both sides. We’ll let Bolton’s official twitter summarize the Blue Dragon’s time on the pitch.

Chung-Yong has looked bright for Bolton. He’s interchanging positions with Eagles and has won a dangerous free-kick out wide. (23) 0-0

— Official BWFC (@OfficialBWFC) January 19, 2013

Half-chances for Bolton, as first Chung-Yong and then Eagles see efforts blocked in the Palace area. (43) 0-0

— Official BWFC (@OfficialBWFC) January 19, 2013

Great chance for Bolton! Kevin Davies is inches away from heading home a Chung-Yong cross before Eagles fires wide. (58) 0-0

— Official BWFC (@OfficialBWFC) January 19, 2013

Moving on: Ki Sung-Yeung put up a sparkling display for Swansea fans as they hosted Stoke City, a team that got the best of them earlier in the season. Ki and his teammates kept Stoke pinned into their own half, maintaining possession and hammered away at Stoke with a barrage of shots. None went in for Swansea by the end of the half however. Ki was operating more offensively minded than usual, perhaps part of Ladrup’s total football strategy he’s been developing with his squad all season. His  accurate penetrating passes created space for the team to operate with more bravado.   Oddly enough, around the 20th minute, as Ki and his teammates were probing outside the edges of Stoke’s penalty area, the Liberty Stadium crowd chanted for Ki to shoot the ball -perhaps knowing he was still looking for his first goal for the club. Not sure if he was directly responding to the crowd, as he was dribbling the ball towards the top of the 18 yard line, he seemingly acquiesced and fired off a shot -but it flew over the crossbar. In the second half, the team’s efforts finally paid off.  ‘Ki-Vision’ zeroed in on Ben Davies driving towards the box. The 19 year old fullback got onto Ki’s wonderfully timed pass, evaded the Stoke defense and shot past the keeper into the net for his first goal as a pro footballer (Ki credited with the assist). An interesting item to note: while Ki has been the Korean national team’s corner kicks and free kicks specialist, for the Swans he’s rotates that role with Jonathan DeGuzman, but lately Ladrup’s strategy has been to utilize Ki’s height to try to head in DeGuzman’s set pieces. For whatever reason, he’s usually not been able to get near the ball on those set pieces, that is until Saturday. DeGuzman’s corner kick found him towards the far post, but realizing he was too far from goal, headed it towards Michu in the center of the box. Michu, under doubled coverage, passed it off and the play eventually fizzled out. Later, Ki got onto another corner kick, this time towards the near post. It was difficult, delivered fast and low, but he made the most of it with a shot parried wide of the net. Later on, DeGuzman earned a brace, first from a brilliant curling free kick, and the second from an amazing first touch assist from Danny Graham as DeGuzman was crashing into the box. Graham, if you haven’t been reading about the latest transfer rumors, is being intensely sought after by a number of clubs, namely Sunderland at the top of the list.  Back to Ki: It’s been very clear for Swansea supporters that Ki’s been vital for the club, this despite not finding his first goal for the Swans. Here’s a youtube montage from Saturday’s game that illustrates why:

Park Ji-Sung got in 9 minutes for QPR as they visited West Ham. The only notable thing in the 1-1 score was Loic Remy’s debut appearance and early 14th minute goal from the Ranger’s new transfer. QPR is still at the bottom of the table, 5 points behind both Reading and Wigan as the other sides mired in the relegation zone.

Park Chu-Young was on the 18 man roster but did not play for Celta Vigo in their clash at Malaga. Celta held Malaga to a 1-1 draw, denying Malaga of moving into 4th place in the La Liga table. The point gives Celta some narrow breathing space from the relegation zone, as they sit a mere 2 points away from the drop.

Let’s rewind to Friday: Kim Kyung-Jung, who transferred into Ligue 2 outfit SM Caen, made his debut – substituting in the 59th minute. SM Caen lost 1-0 to Niort.

And back to Saturday: newly transferred from Wolfsburg’s Youth team, Park Jung-Bin made his debut in the Bundesliga, coming in the 89th minute in SpVgg Gruether Furth 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich. The 18 year old is now in the history books as the youngest Korean to debut in the Bundesliga (Son Heung-Min had that distinction as a 19 year old playing his first game for Hamburg nearly 2 seasons ago).

The Bundesliga awoke from their winter break hibernation this weekend. That means Son Heung-Min, Koo Ja-Cheol and Ji Dong-Won are expecting to see action on Sunday for their respective sides. Hamburg and Son is at Nurnberg, kickoff at 9:30 am EST.  Koo Ja-Cheol and Ji Dong-Won (on loan from Sunderland) are together with the very difficult task of helping Augsburg climb out of the relegation heap.  They are at Fortuna Dusseldorf, starting at 11:30 am EST. All games are being aired in the US on GOL TV.  NOTE: Dusseldorf has Cha Du-Ri in it’s roster, but don’t expect a Korean derby tomorrow. Reports surfacing indicate that Cha is out of favor and on his way out of the club, possibly to a K-League Classic team (still can’t get over this name K-League Classic. Every time I hear that, I say a silent ‘WTF’ in my head).