Tavern Weekend Listings April 5-7 (updated for WtW)

Watching This Weekend should be forthcoming soon is listed below (in bold). Meanwhile we’ve got the Weekend Listings. What game(s) you gonna watch?

 

Tavern Weekend Listings [all times listed are in both US EST / Korea Time. Broadcasting is listed for US, streaming should be available worldwide]

FRIDAY

Portugal, Maritimo vs. Pacos de Ferrerira 3 p.m. / (Korea: Sunday 4 a.m.)

Suk Hyun-Jun looking for his 4th goal for Maritimo. He scored last weekend in their 4-2 away victory over Vitoria Setubal (and nearly had a brace as well).

SATURDAY

Germany, Borussia Dortmund vs. Augsburg 9:30 a.m./10:30 p.m. A tough match for Ji Dong-Won and Augsburg, who will be without the services of Koo Ja-Cheol. Unbeknownst to the Tavern owner, Koo was injured in the World Cup Qualifying win against Qatar on March 26th. He may be out for up to 6 weeks.

Jae’s WtW match is the aforementioned Dortmund vs Augsburg match. In what should be a very difficult match for Augsburg. Shorn of Koo Ja-Cheol’s services (thanks to AA28 and Allyre for the info) for a good chunk of the remainder of the season, it is hard to see Augsburg getting out of the relegation spots. Their hope would seem to be hanging onto 16th and winning the relegation playoff match. But, that being said points against second-place Dortmund would be a boost as the team they’re chasing (Cha Du-Ri’s old club Fortuna Dusseldorf), lost already, so ground can be made up this weekend.

German paper Bild is predicting this starting XI for Augsburg: Manninger, Verhaegh, Callsen-Bracker, Klaven, Ostrzolek, Vogt, Baier, Hahn, Ji, Werner, Molde. Close to a full-strength side, except for a certain Korean. For me, it will be interesting to see Ji play in an attacking midfield spot (assuming Bild‘s prediction is correct). One would have to believe that this isn’t a game that will go in Augsburg’s favor. Although Dortmund haven’t had a great season, they should still have enough quality to see off Augsburg at the Signal Iduna Park (aka the Westfalenstadion).

Augburg’s hope may be that Dortmund opt to rest key players with their upcoming return leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against Malaga looming. Dortmund should have won their first leg match, but were held to a 0-0 draw with the Spanish side. The Bundesliga offers little incentive for Dortmund, as Bayern will almost certainly reclaim the title (they only need a draw) this weekend. The only motivation will be to stay in second as Bayer Leverkusen is just four points behind. Bild though is predicting a much changed, but still fairly strong XI, for Dortmund that includes: Weidenfeller, Grosskreutz, Hummels, Subotic, Kirch, Sahin, Bender, Bittencourt, Lewandowski, Goetze, Schieber.

Similar to what I was looking for last week, when Son Heung-Min went up against Bayern, I will be looking to see how Ji Dong-Won fares against a very good Dortmund side. Will he disappear if his side struggles (as I expect they will) or will he still find ways to be important for his team?

Germany, Borussia M’Gladbach vs. Gruether Furth 9:30 a.m./10:30 p.m. Park Jung-Bin hasn’t made an appearance for G Furth lately – could he make the squad this time around?

England, Norwich City vs. Swansea City 10 a.m./11 p.m. foxsoccer2go.com (tape at 2 on Fox Soccer). Ki and Swans company looking to regain their winning ways.

England, Bolton vs. Wolverhampton 10 a.m./11 p.m. Lee Chung-Yong and his Bolton mates have stumbled a bit lately but are only 5 points away from getting into a playoff promotion spot in the English Championship division. Will Lee get to join Kim Bo-Kyung & Cardiff in rising to the Premiership next season?

Germany, Hamburg vs. Freiburg 12:30 p.m./ (Korea: Sunday1:30 a.m.) GolTV    Son Heung-Min looking for goal #10 for Hamburg.

MLS, San Jose Earthquakes vs. Vancouver Whitecaps 10:30 p.m. / (Korea: Sunday 11:30 a.m.) Direct Kick, MLS Live    Lee Young-Pyo continues to be solid D for Vancouver despite being on the verge of age 36 (his birthday is April 23rd).

England, Watford vs. Cardiff City 12:20 p.m./ (Korea: Sunday 1 a.m.)  Kim Bo-Kyung had a surprise start last Monday against Blackburn. Nearly had himself a goal – and despite not appearing in roughly a month, still showed technical prowess that dazzled everyone at Cardiff City Stadium. He won Man of the Match in Cardiff’s 3-0 victory – which prompted questions from the media to manager Malky Mackay why he hadn’t been playing Kim sooner. Here’s a picture of his champaign he won for his efforts:

SUNDAY

South Korea, Busan vs. Seongnam 6 a.m. / 7 p.m. One World Sports

I’ll be at this game, no write-up though (not here at least), as there aren’t any NT players on either team. I’m wondering if this match is on OWS due to it’s time slot? The more interesting games are on Saturday (Jeonbuk – Jeju, Seoul – Ulsan, and Incheon – Pohang).

Spain, Celta Vigo vs. Rayo Vallecano 6 a.m. / 7 p.m.  Park Chu-Young had a mixed performance against Barca last weekend, fair 1st half but nervous & poor in the 2nd half.  Celta needs everyone, including Park to show up if they are to escape relegation.

Switzerland, St. Gallen vs. FC Basel 10 a.m. / 11 p.m. Park Joo-Ho didn’t make the squad in Thursday’s 2-2 Europa League draw with Tottenham. Rotation could see Park switched back in for Sunday’s match.

England, QPR vs. Wigan 11 a.m. Fox Soccer, Fox Deportes. Park Ji-Sung did not appear in QPR’s loss at Fulham on Monday. Yun Suk-Young has yet to appear in the 18 man roster for the Rangers. Can the Rangers eek out enough victories to avoid relegation before it’s too late?

Can’t promise this one, due to prior scheduled activities, but will be hoping to catch Shonan Bellmare vs Kashiwa Frontale in the J-League. Interested in seeing more of Han Kook-Young.