Weekend Roundup in Europe and Korea

waiting on Ki and Sunderland to take on West Ham on Monday but here’s the roundup so far…

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• Potentially up to 4 Koreans could’ve been on the pitch for Augsburg’s visit to Mainz on Saturday. With Ji still injured, it was down to 3 Koreans, Hong Jeong-Ho getting involved in the 30th minute when Augsburg’s Klavan exited early with an injury. Koo Ja-Cheol started, played most of the match and looked like a man on a mission to score against his former team.  2 shots looked like excellent candidates to find the back of the net. Though he didn’t score, he did get credit with an assist. His teammate Park Joo-Ho played all 90 minutes and got one shot off.
• Tough luck for Bolton as they should’ve had all 3 points on Saturday. Instead they just managed a dramatic draw at the end with a penalty kick save by Bolton’s keeper that kept the score at 1-1. ESPNFC documented Lee Chung-Yong’s contributions:  “Wigan were then fortunate to keep 11 players on the pitch. Lee Chung-Yong broke clear before last-man Boyce brought the South Korean down on the edge of the penalty area. Referee Darren Drysdale, though, only chose to award the Barbados defender a booking. However, that did not stem a change in the tide as Wanderers continued to look the more likely side to score next…”
• One week after winning Man of the Match for QPR, Yun Suk-Young was on the bench and….didn’t see any playing minutes. Harry Redknapp opted for Dunne again, but unlike last week’s clean sheet – they conceded early in the 11th minute and according to ESPNFC, played a less than stellar game overall.
• So many injuries – enough so that the KNT sent some coaches (Kim Tae-young and Park Kun-ha) and physicians to check in on some of their Korean footballers in Germany and England. They’re scheduled to fly out in early April and will also be giving advice on how best to avoid injuries so as to not miss the World Cup. According to Yonhap, “it hasn’t been decided whether head coach Hong Myung-bo will join them.”

 

In the K-League for week 5:

Saturday, March 29
Steelers 4 Final Sangju Sangmu 2	Ulsan 2 Final FC Seoul 1
Jeonbuk 1 Final Seongnam 0
Sunday, March 30
Jeju United 1 Final Gyeongnam 1	Incheon 0 Final Dragons 0
Suwon 1 Final Busan IPark 0

And some last notes: Ji So-Yun went into the history books a few months ago, first Korean woman to sign for Chelsea in the WSL. The season will be starting in April, here’s a twitter posting of the team in training in Surrey, England:

It’s a cold night at Cobham for @ChelseaLFC training tonight… #CLFC pic.twitter.com/1HLCTPUAWK

— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) March 27, 2014