Midweek Listing + Korean football…in 1927

I’m on the run but just wanted to give a quick shout out to a group I dub the SUPER 5; Five amazing individuals who stepped up and contributed so the Tavern can keep operational this year!  As far as I can tell thus far, each one would like to remain anonymous. There’s a bit more detail to the conclusion of the limited crowdfunding campaign, which I’ll add to later in a future posting. For now, a tremendous Kam sam nee da from all of us at the Tavern!  And now to Korean Footballers Abroad for midweek Europa League fixtures:

All games on Thursday (Friday if you’re in Korea)

Son Heung Min and Tottenham go to AS Monaco on Fox Sports 1 AND ESPN 3 (I’m guessing latter is in Spanish) at 1 PM ET.  Pochettino played a mixed squad last week but against nominally toughest opponent in the group, perhaps he goes with a stronger side than last EL match.  I think its 50/50 as to whether Son is on the bench or starts right now. [Update: not sure Son’s status – reportedly sustained foot injury during Spurs win over Man City on Saturday.  Spur’s twitter reports their medical staff is monitoring Son’s situation].

Park Joo Ho and Dortmund go to PAOK Salonika at 3:05 PM ET on Fox Sports 2.  PJH was dropped from last midweek action and was an unused sub last weekend but this seems like a higher chance for him to get some starting minutes.  I’m expecting him to start.

Koo Ja Cheol / Hong Jeong Ho / Ji Dong Won host Partizan Belgrade at 1PM ET on Fox Soccer 2 Go.  I think Koo and HJH could probably use a break and Ji has done well enough to start (and certainly helped by the poor finishing by the starters).  That said, Wienzierl may be looking to build some confidence and so its unclear if he’ll go with a more full strength side or not.  My hunch is that Ji and Koo start with HJH getting a break.

Before we look at some old yet amazingly cool photos – I mentioned last week about Steve Price’s recent IBWM piece.  I have a companion Q&A with him regarding it – good timing too as KNT U23 takes on Australia at the ‘space ship’ stadium.  It’s almost ready to post, so stay tuned for that…

This was posted on FB by the KFA last week – so we are a bit late presenting this for your perusal – but in case you missed it, some remarkable photos dating back to 1927 that shows a brief history of Korean football, from it’s humble origins during Japanese occupation all the way to World Cup glory in hosting the 2002 tournament. Most recently, the Taeguk Ladies accomplished an impressive feat by emerging last summer from their group to advance to the Women’s World Cup Round of 16 for the very first time in their history.

Here’s three of the most fascinating ‘sajins’ on their site:

Daaaaamn – look how tough they looked in ’27- they’re ready to knock people down in rugby!

Did you know?  Korea qualified for it’s first international tournament in 1948 at the London Olympics.

This – this is the money shot of the whole series. This epic game in the mud, qualified Korea for the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland when they beat Japan in their first Haniljeon 5-1.

There’s more : check out their FB site.

I’m on the run, gotta prepare for a hurricane here at the physical Tavern. Time to batten down the hatches.  Chal ga!