I forgot to add Korea's U17 World Cup team to the weekend preview but what a win over Brazil! That win leaves them in great shape to advance to the knockout stages given smaller format. In addition to Korea's U17, a bit more than normal midweek action with Taca da Liga cup action for Suk on top of Europa League and Championship:
Tuesday:
Korea U17 vs Guinea -- Match 2 of their group kicks off at 7PM ET on Fox Soccer Plus.
Yun Suk Young -- Yun and QPR host Sheffield Wednesday. Maybe Yun travelling with squad last weekend is a sign that he's close to returning to first team action especially with two match week. Or he could be left out of squad again as Ramsey has chosen for quite a while. I'm leaning to latter but Yun making an appearance may be more likely right now than before. 2:45 PM ET no TV.
Ryu Seung Woo -- Leverkusen host Roma but RSW is probably out with injury and selection as well. 2:45 PM ET on ESPN2/3.
Wednesday:
Suk Hyun Jun -- Vitoria and Suk go to Moreirense for cup action which means it is hard to tell if Suk will start but he most likely will be on the bench at least. No TV. 11 AM ET.
Thursday:
Koo Ja Cheol / Ji Dong Won / Hong Jeong Ho -- Augsburg go to AZ Alkmaar in another EL match. With Augsburg struggling badly at the bottom of the table, I'd normally expect Weinzierl to go with a very weak squad, but with Augsburg looking to find rhythm and some injuries, perhaps he'll end up selecting a reasonably strong side. Ji Dong Won looks more likely of the three to start, and perhaps Koo starts as well to get him back into the flow though he's less likely. Hong Jeong Ho remains out with injury. 1 PM on Fox Soccer 2 Go.
Son Heung Min -- He'll most likely be out as Tottenham go to Anderlecht. 1P M on Fox Soccer 1.
Park Joo Ho -- Dortmund go to Gabala. Will Tuchel save Schmelzer for the league (especially given traveling to Azerbaijan) and Park Joo Ho get the start or will he prefer a stronger lineup to continue their forward momentum? I'm expecting the latter, at least with regards to Park Joo Ho with him being on the bench. 11 AM on Fox Sports 1.
Thoughts on U17 Saturday performance:
A very strong performance from Korean U17 WC team as they went toe to toe with the Brazilians all night and were rewarded when they scored late in the match after great work from Kim Jin Ya. Coming into the tournament, I'd think most people were just hoping to see Lee Seung Woo in action but now with a big three points in hand, we can start getting excited about progressing further. Kim Jin Ya being the most consistently dangerous player all match helped open things up for Korea all match, helping pull away defenders away from Lee Seung Woo. Lee Seung Woo wasn't bad himself, though I didn't rate his performance quite as high as others. It was good to see some individual quality from him, both dribbling with ease and some really nice passes in traffic. But I thought his work rate on defense was a bit weak and his decision-making lacking at times as well.
Defensively, the fullbacks looked better going forward than defending but their biggest defensive problems came with being way too cute with passes in their own half. Many of Brazil's opportunities came from a bad pass in a bad place but fortunately, Korea's effort helped cover for these errors by hustling back and/or quickly winning back the ball. One bad habit that I hate that is shared with senior squad over the years is the high amount of slide tackling. Obviously these will happen over the course of proper defending but there are way too many reckless tackles that have a low probability of winning the ball and too often take the defender out of the play completely. At the end of the day though, Korean defenders looked to want the ball more than the Brazilians all night and that won the defensive battle for them.
Offensively, it was great to see a ton of fluid passing out of the Koreans and not just on the goal. Maybe Lee Seung Woo helped share some Barca training because there were beautiful combinations all over the pitch that were really impressive at this level and against that kind of opposition. There was a refreshing bravery in attack that has been lacking on the senior side for years now, with a willingness to try the risky maneuver rather than safer sideways passing. They started off brave and kept attacking the Brazilians and it was wonderful to watch.
