Weekend Listings: September 20th-21st 2014

Friday evening, temperatures below zero (welcome to Canada) (It’s called “Celsius”, America), Asian Games, first Korean gold medal of the games, won in Wushu(?), weekend listings. With Solksjaer gone, what does this mean for Kimbo? And Yun Suk-Young is in contention. All that and more in this (was intended to be short but sweet) weekend listings.

Thank you to Skimmilk over at Korean Footballers Abroad for letting us use his table…

The early game sees Yun Suk-Young and Queens Park Rangers welcome Stoke City, and for the first time in a long while, Yun Suk-Young is in contention to make the squad. Redknapp declared the Korean defender “fully fit, in contention and available for the weekend” after impressing giving up a PK in a reserves match.

‘Arry’s logic… play well in reserves = stay in reserves, suck in reserves = Premier League.

Well, it’s ‘Arry. What do you expect.

Meanwhile, Kim Bo-Kyung at Cardiff City will have a new manager, and despite two caretakers leading the squad to do battle at Derby County, no one really knows if Kim Bo-Kyung is in anyone’s plans. So the answer to my somewhat rhetorical question in the intro is “Who the hell knows”.

Koo Ja-Cheol and Mainz have a daunting task against Borussia Dortmund, but it won’t be a Korean derby, as Ji Dong-Won still isn’t fully fit. Park Joo-Ho and Kim Jin-Su are away on Asian Games duty.

Super playmaker Ki Sung-Yueng will hope to help Swansea continue a very impressive start to the season against Southampton. Ki looks very comfortable with his role alongside Shelvey, and tactically Garry Monk is getting things right. Ki will start.

The only KPA game on Sunday sees Son Heung-Min play against Wolfsburg, after losing disappointingly 1-0 midweek against AS Monaco. Son scored a beauty last week, hopefully he can continue his great form. I don’t know if he needs a breather though.

Over to the K-League… and ugh, Jin Jong-Ho just got eliminated in the Asian Games Shooting… he won the gold in London. Anyways…

K-League Listings

Jeonbuk-Seoul (Saturday, 1am ET, 2pm KST): Last time Jeonbuk hosted Seoul, the crowd was in excess of 30,000 something I think. Why? Some marketing about Choi Kang-Hee going hunting for Choi Yong-Soo brought the fans to the Jeonju Stadium. (Don’t ask why. I don’t know why.) As for this encounter…

It’s late, but this is said marketing . . .

[팬이 있어야 전북현대가 산다] 전북현대모터스의 극강의 공격으로 FC서울의 "텐"백을 쓱싹쓱싹지워 나갈 이번주 토요일 오후 2시 전주성의 "리벤지 매치"를 기대해주세요 http://t.co/jV2i51ugA0 pic.twitter.com/X0GJkvPGQ7

— Jeonbuk_hyundai (@Jeonbuk_hyundai) September 18, 2014

‘Nuff said.

Ulsan-Incheon (Saturday, 1am ET, 2pm KST): The Tigers looking to stay in the top tier, Incheon on a slide to relegation territory.

Suwon-Pohang (Saturday, 3am ET, 4pm KST): Pohang trail Jeonbuk by a mere point atop the K-League; 3rd place Suwon and unbeaten in their last five.

Seongnam-Jeju (Sunday, 1am ET, 2pm KST): Sitting 3 points away from the bottom is Seongnam; 1 point away from the CL tettiry is Jeju.

Jeonnam-Busan (Sunday, 1am ET, 2pm KST): Both teams are in pretty bad form, but Jeonnam will be tankful for a strong start to the season that sees them avoid the relegation picture. Busan… not so much.

Gyeongnam-Sangju (Sunday, 3am ET, 4pm KST): Is this a chance for Gyeongnam to get points? Sangju are going through a transition phase, with several players, including Lee Keun-Ho, now becoming civilians and completing their military service.

In the K-League Challenge, Daejeon still has a substantial lead (16 points), but lost their first game in a million years against Gwangju midweek. It’s still a dogfight for the promotion playoff spots, but if Ansan don’t complete a miraculous rise to the top, the Police squad should be in the more advanced stages of that ladder playoff format. (4th v 3rd, winner v 2nd, winner v 11th KLG Classic).

Asian Games – Roy’s already mentioned it, but double reminder, men take on Laos at 4am on Sunday, women take on the Maldives, same time. Expect massive scoreline. Also, remember Ji So-Yun joins the women after the Maldives game – next opponent, likely Vietnam or someone of the like in the QF. The men – probably something like Hong Kong in the Rof16. Yun Il-Lok out with MCL tear, Lee Jong-Ho probably taking his place, or Moon Sang-Hyun, Kim Shin-Wook just a bruise, but will rested in case against Laos, and No Dong-Geun might get the nod in goal to get eligible for exemption. A point would win the group.

And of course, the AFC U-16 Championship takes place tomorrow morning, at 7am Eastern, and it’s an all Korean-final, South and the North. You’ll recall the South beat Syria 7-1 in that shellacking, while the North took the Aussies to penalties and won.

And with people talking about reunification and what it would mean for Korean football (in a previous comments section), I’ll leave you with this touching video, from the 2009 Asian Youth Games, a show of friendship, peace and unity, the kids showing the politicians in Pyongyang and the Blue House how it’s done. No matter what side of the DMZ we’re from, we’re all Koreans. Have a good night/morning/something in between. Jalgayo.