What.a.weekend. This roundup is late, but blame it on the hangover. So let’s get to it: a matchup worthy of the hype, #1 v #2, Guardiola vs Pochettino. Aguero vs Son. That can only mean one thing:: Spurs vs Man City. White Heart Lane and the rest of the Spurs supporters watching around the globe were all nerves on Sunday. By the end, White Heart Lane was rocking and both Spurs and Taeguk Warrior supporters were jumping up and down after the scintillating performance in Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat of Manchester City. Status report on Son? Still nuclear hot. But that’s not all, Ji Dong-Won notched his first goal for Augsburg this season, his first in what seemed like forever – but you just knew he was going to score soon. Lee Seung-Woo netted one yet again for Barca Juvenil A, and Super Sunday in the K-League produced some spectacular and jaw dropping results, we’ll get to all that and more – stay tuned after the jump…
An incredible energetic performance overall from Spurs -right from the opening 30 seconds, Son had 2 near chances to get on the scoreboard early. Not a bad way to start and it only got better with a nearly flawless performance, save for Lamela’s failed PK which saw Son and Lamela jostle for the ball moments before the botched attempt – more on that later.
First let’s take a quick view of KPA action this weekend
[tb]
Player, Club, Opponent, Result, Notes
Son Heungmin, @Tottenham, Manchester City, 2-0 W, 88′ + 1 assist
Ji Dongwon, Augsburg, @Leipzig, 1-2 L, 90′ + 1 goal
Koo Jacheol, Augsburg, @Leipzig, 1-2 L, 78′
Lee Chungyong, Palace, @Everton, 1-1 D, sub in injury time
Ki Sungyueng, @Swansea, Liverpool, 1-2 L, bench start + 27′
Hwang Heechan, Red Bull Salzburg, @Altach, 0-0 D, bench start + 18′
Suk Hyun-Jun, Trabzonspor, @Karabukspor, 4-0 L, 90′[/tb]
Here’s a video ball touch reel from Sunday:
Son and Spurs performance takes all the headlines at the Tavern this weekend. For a sampler:
Barney Ronay for the Guardian on Son’s pressing that helped scramble Claudio Bravo and laid havoc on Man City’s defenses:
Son's furious pressure-game sets tone for victory over Manchester City @barneyronay https://t.co/1Yy7HpnLPE
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) October 2, 2016
https://twitter.com/ChampionsLeague/status/782621161242886145
I just had everything I wrote about Son disappear by my computer. Shit. Ok let’s see if I can recapture the moment:
Talking points about Son’s performance:
- Son can play one top (but seems a little uncomfortable there – seems to still drift wide when given opportunity). Pundits have given him praise for his performance nevertheless.
- Pochettino moved Alli further up to work closely with Son- worked like a charm. Son finding Alli and weighting a no look pass through the defense was perfect – like butter (times like now I wish I had a Bronx accent).
- Son, Lamela and Poch all played down the controversy surrounding who would take the PK that eventually was taken by Lamela. After it was blocked, safe to say Son will be taking the PKs from now on.
- Media in England are scrambling to find more info about Son and possible military conscription now that’s he’s in nuclear hot form now. A very well written piece by Donnie Kwak writing in the Ringer (new media outfit started up by sports personality Bill Simmons) details Son’s progress this season and accurately relays the military conscription issue with Korean footballers like Son. Definitely worth a read, it’s entitled “The Prodigal Son.”
Make no mistake, Spurs biggest test of the season passed with flying colors. Spurs are now the only undefeated team in the EPL, and go into the international break just a point behind Man City, but with the wind at their backs.
In Germany on Friday, Ji Dong-Won scored his first goal of the season for Augsburg.
Inner monologue: Ji trying to out-Son Son with that cut in on edge of the area followed by unleashing a stunning shot bending into the top far corner. Simply brilliant! Didn’t prevent Augsburg losing to Leipzig 2-1 however…
Over to Ki Sung-Yeung and Swansea, another close match slips away, this time to Liverpool and now manager Guidolin is out. Normally that would take an entire Monday Tavern headline, but this was pretty much expected. What is surprising (and perhaps in a not so great way for Swans supporters) is who they appointed next: Bob Bradley, former manager of the USMNT. Speculation abounds, maybe it was the new US owners who wanted an American to manage rather than ex Man U player/assistant manager Ryan Giggs. Well, hopefully Ki can get a fresh new start with Bradley (as Ki was on the outs with a personality spat with Guidolin). Or he can get out of there in the next transfer before things get worse at the Welsh club, but lets not be too hasty and prejudge Bradley, let’s see what the American can do…
Getting late here at the Tavern so we’ll quickly show this:
Lee's goal against Sabadell today for Juvenil A. Nice strike! pic.twitter.com/kl2brwDkVF
— La Masia (@Youngcules) October 2, 2016
and the results from Super Sunday in the K-League – plenty of jaw dropping results:
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Sunday, October 2
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The SPL style split is done and over with. So who made the cut -and who’s in the doghouse half of the table?
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#
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Team
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GP
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W
|
D
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
GD
|
PTS
|
||
|
1
|
|
33
|
18
|
15
|
0
|
60
|
35
|
25
|
60
|
||
|
2
|
|
33
|
17
|
6
|
10
|
58
|
43
|
15
|
57
|
||
|
3
|
|
33
|
14
|
7
|
12
|
60
|
50
|
10
|
49
|
||
|
4
|
|
33
|
13
|
9
|
11
|
38
|
43
|
-5
|
48
|
||
|
5
|
|
33
|
11
|
10
|
12
|
38
|
40
|
-2
|
43
|
||
|
6
|
|
33
|
12
|
6
|
15
|
50
|
53
|
-3
|
42
|
And the bottom dog house half:
|
7
|
|
33
|
11
|
8
|
14
|
46
|
46
|
0
|
41
|
||
|
8
|
|
33
|
11
|
8
|
14
|
37
|
39
|
-2
|
41
|
||
|
9
|
|
33
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
37
|
40
|
-3
|
41
|
||
|
10
|
|
33
|
7
|
16
|
10
|
45
|
52
|
-7
|
37
|
||
|
11
|
|
33
|
8
|
11
|
14
|
35
|
46
|
-11
|
35
|
||
|
12
|
|
33
|
8
|
9
|
16
|
34
|
51
|
-17
|
33
|
- Jeonbuk’s draw + Seoul’s win = only 3 points separating #1 and #2. It’s a title race again after Jeonbuk’s 9 point deduction for the bribery penalty imposed last Friday.
- Sangju Sangmu draws even with Jeonbuk? That must’ve been a heavily rotated side for Choi Kang-Hee’s squad -but the end result not only makes it unofficially a legit title race again, it allowed the army team to squeak into the top half for the remainder of the season + left Seongnam, Pohang and Gwangju in the dustbin of the 2016 season.
- 9 goals between Suwon BW and Suwon FC?!? That’s fucking crazy but it happened. The bottom of the table team narrowly edged out their crosstown rivals in the Suwon derby V2.0. Will both Suwon clubs disappear from the K-League Classic at season’s end?
- Incheon’s victory over Ulsan was never going to be enough to leapfrog into the top half of the split, but may have preserved a chance for the citizens to climb out of the relegation zone.
K-League Challenge results (from Soccerway)
K-League Challenge Table
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | P | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ansan Mugunghwa | 35 | 19 | 7 | 9 | 51 | 38 | +13 | 64 | |||
| 2 |  |
Gangwon | 34 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 41 | 26 | +15 | 59 | ||
| 3 | |
Daegu | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 46 | 34 | +12 | 57 | ||
| 4 |  |
Bucheon 1995 | 35 | 16 | 9 | 10 | 42 | 30 | +12 | 57 | ||
| 5 | |
Busan I’Park | 35 | 15 | 7 | 13 | 44 | 35 | +9 | 52 | ||
| 6 | |
Daejeon Citizen | 35 | 13 | 9 | 13 | 47 | 45 | +2 | 48 | ||
| 7 | Seoul E-Land | 34 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 36 | 33 | +3 | 46 | |||
| 8 | |
Anyang | 35 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 35 | 44 | -9 | 43 | ||
| 9 | |
Gyeongnam | 34 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 53 | 49 | +4 | 43 | ||
| 10 | Chungju | 35 | 6 | 7 | 22 | 31 | 53 | -22 | 25 | |||
| 11 | Goyang Zaicro | 34 | 2 | 10 | 22 | 16 | 55 | -39 | 16 |
I’m still catching up to speed on things, apparently Ansan can’t be promoted next year. 4th place normally is the promotion playoff cutoff, but now that might extend to 5th place. Promotion playoffs will be a bit screwy in a few months…
Tavern will be in full swing this week – to note this international break it’s WCQ time:
Thursday Korea V Qatar at Suwon World Cup Stadium 7AM US EST / 8 PM Korea time
And Oct 11th Tuesday Iran v Korea 10:45 AM US EST / 11:45 PM Korea Time
Korea’s biggest test in the group will be Iran. Korea has yet to beat Iran at their home turf. Stay tuned.
hey Roy, will there be a Korea-Qatar preview post?
Nice post btw. It’s nice whenever I see the Tavern Owner himself posting detailed stuff.
What up Elliot! Korea Qatar preview you ask? It’s on the way!