Watching this Weekend/Listings (8-31/9-1)

My stab at the weekend listings, and my match of the weekend!

Friday, 8-30
Time (ET) Player                  Club                          Opponent                   TV/Stream
5:00pm     Kim Young-Kiu      Almeria                      Elche                      BeInSport Play

Saturday, 8-31
Time (ET)  Player                    Club                       Opponent                   TV/Stream
7:15am      Yoon Suk-Young     QPR                    @Leeds United           none
9:30am      Koo Ja-Cheol         Wolfsburg             Hertha Berlin              none
9:30am      Park Joo-Ho           Mainz                   @Hannover 96            none
10:00am    Lee Chung-Yong    Bolton                  @Blackburn Rovers    none
10:00am    Kim Bo-Kyung       Cardiff City            Everton                     NBCSN + Live Extra
12:30pm   Son Heung-Min      Bayer Leverkusen  @Schalke 04             none
1:00pm     Park Min-Woo        Vitoria Setubal        Vitoria Guimaraes      none
2:45pm     Park Ji-Sung           PSV Eindhoven     Cambuur                   ESPN3

Sunday, 9-1
Time (ET)  Player                   Club                         Opponent                      TV/Stream
8:30am      Ki Sung-Yueng     Swansea City          @West Brom Albion     Live Extra
12:30pm    Ji Dong-Won        Sunderland              @Crystal Palace          NBC + Live Extra

*If you see any errors please feel free to correct them

Match of the Weekend

If you can find a stream for it (which shouldn’t be too hard), my match of the weekend is in Germany. Bayer Leverkusen vs Schalke 04. Last season these two teams finished 3rd and 4th respectively in the Bundesliga. Both have qualified for this season’s Champions League, with Schalke making it through the qualifying rounds by knocking off Greek side PAOK 4-3 on aggregate. Schalke perhaps has the slightly easier task of taking on Chelsea, Park Joo-Ho’s former side Basel, and Steaua Bucherest while Leverkusen will take on Manchester United, Real Sociedad, and Shakhtar Donetsk. But that’s for a later date.

This season, Leverkusen has gotten off to a flier. Winning all three matches to put themselves in a position to top the table depending on how results fall. The SSS trio of Son Heung-Min, Stephen Keissling, and Sidney Sam has been good so far, and offers possibly the best attacking trio outside of a certain Munich side. Son has been decent for Leverkusen so far, scoring a goal in their opening day win over Freiburg. He’s been a bit quiet since then, but it only seems a matter of time until he comes good. And Schalke might be just the tonic he needs.

Schalke, on the other hand, have gotten off to a stinker. Picking up just one point from their first three matches. Perhaps Champions League qualification has been their focus thus far. On paper, Schalke have a formidable attack, led by Dutch hitman Klass Jan Huntelaar. Behind him is a player many are touting as “the next big thing” in German international Julian Draxler. Other familiar faces in the Schalke team are Japanese fullback Atsuto Uchida and, from the last friendly, Peruvian winger Jefferson Farfan. If you’re a US fan as well, US international Jermaine Jones also plys his trade for the side. Defense has been the weakness for Schalke in their first matches, having conceded 9 goals so far. Most notably in the 4-0 beating that Koo Ja-Cheol and Wolfsburg handed them.

Schalke should be more focused in the league with Champions League qualification secured, but given their defensive frailties, it would appear that Leverkusen might be too much for them. This one could be a very exciting game with plenty of attacking talent on both sides.

About Jae Chee 340 Articles
A football fan who got bit by the writing bug.

5 Comments

  1. I think in Hamburg, Son was main attacker
    but now I think he is just one of the legs to support Kissling or Sam

    Maybe Son should have stayed in Hamburg?
    I often observe Boenisch coming so far up that Son doesnt get passes or dont have enough ball time to show off something

    • Indeed that’s always the problem when young players move to bigger clubs. More competition and more players that have to share responsibilities. Son most likely would have had a bigger role with Hamburg, but he will get more experience at the top level (Champions League) with Leverkusen. I think it’ll take a bit of time for everything to smooth out and adjust. Son is a new addition to the team, so Hyypia is probably still working on how to get the best out of Son without disrupting what Leverkusen already has.

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