And another Japanese player chose South Korea: Madoka Haji had played several matches in National Team in 2017, but her 2018 season was not so good and she lost her place in NT. She's probably eager for a new kind of experience overseas.
Back tonight, the WK League 2019, week 1 The first match is a final replay! Incheon v Gyeongju KHNP, it's streaming online very soon (09:45 GMT, 18:45 KST). At the same time is another good matchup - the previous 4th v 3rd, Gumi v Suwon, it's live online too. As is traditional, media day was a few days ago, live on the web Couldn't have put it better myself, gamsahamnida. This year I promise to learn Korean, or at least 3 words from the actual Korean football glossary. And not just the popular 'Konglish' words like heading and shooting, whatever those mean.
Week 1, that game is worth a look - it really was as fast-paced as a final. (Highlights on KFATV Youtube) Champions Incheon dropped points at Suwon (0-0 in week 2), then Incheon won 3-0 over lower-table teams Changnyeong, Boeun and Seoul. The first 5 weeks were marked by a high number of draws, but the 2018 finalists Gyeongju won twice. A bizarre incident impacted the the 4th v 3rd opening match, Gumi v Suwon, just before half-time. An apparent goal by Choi Yu-ri was disallowed because the previous free-kick had been signalled as a throw-in by the assistant, and the ref had 'misinterpreted' the signal. So, she overturned her decision and the goal. (Does that ... make sense?) And Boeun v Gumi Sportstoto (week 2) had the biggest attendance I've seen the army club get. Highlights Hwacheon KSPO 1 - 1 Suwon (week 4) 화천KSPO vs 수원도시공사
Don't wanna be negative, but the autogenerated autotranslated English subtitles are getting worse this season. Or better. (Nobody really said this, it was crosstalk. The TV commentator and stadium announcer were shouting at the same time. They meant Boeun military academy)
This reminds me of how Google-translator used to transform Japanese names and family names some years ago, generating such players as "Green Abalone Scraper" (= Midori Isokane) or "Go to Unknown" (= Michi Goto).
Week 6, this has to go down as a shock score: Highlights Gyeongju KHNP 0 - 2 Boeun 경주한수원 vs 보은상무 The army club Boeun are rarely winners, but they moved up to 4th by beating the 2018 finalists, Lee Geum-min, Tanaka and Nahi's team Gyeongju. Finally, the military discipline is paying off. Goals: Kim Ji-won (16'), Kim Min-jin (31') Suwon are having a good season so far, unbeaten in 2nd place, but mainly draws. (After 6 weeks) Incheon 16pts, Suwon 10, Gyeongju KHNP 8, Boeun 8, Hwacheon KSPO 7, Gumi 7, Seoul 4, Changnyeong 2 Week 7 (in May) was postponed to let Korea's players prepare for their Women's World Cup kickoff on June 7. In fact, the league is on hiatus! The WK-League says there are 3 possible dates to restart the season. Depending on Korea's World Cup results, "Plan 1: June 24, 2019, at 19:00. (When the World Cup qualification is eliminated)"' "Plan 2: Thursday, June 27, 2019, 19:00. (When World Cup Round 16 (1st or 2nd place) is eliminated)" "Plan 3: To be re-discussed at the World Cup Round of 16" – (KWFF press release) Img: SWE/Feedbin/Ubuntu Plan 3 is really just, "we haven't planned for that". A troubling news story at Gyeongju KHNP. The league has launched a players' survey on sexual abuse - a responsible thing to do, after allegations in women's football in Afghanistan, Colombia and Gabon. But the KFA is investigating this because there was a misconduct case at the Gyeongju club in 2018, and a male staff member lost his job in September. From the report on SportsW.kr - these were the relevant parts they wrote in Korean. (The autotranslation gave some info but wasn't very clear.) 앞서 협회는 지난 4월 17일 성추행으로 계약 해지된 경주 한국수력원자력 하금진 전 감독에 최고 수위 징계인 제명 처분을 내린 바 있다. 하 전 감독은 WK리그 순위 경쟁이 한창이던 지난해 9월 돌연 개인 사정을 이유로 팀의 지휘봉을 내려놓았으나, 이후 하 전 감독의 사퇴 이유가 성폭력에 따른 퇴출로 밝혀지며 논란이 일었다. - (SportsW)
The story on Gyeongju KHNP is disappointing, I've not seen that before. Separately, it is shocking to me that the league doesn't already have a schedule established to work around the WWC. It's almost like they are making it up as they go along.
Korea gave it their best shot in the Women's World Cup, but so, we're back! Weeks 7–10 Incheon and Suwon continued strongly as the top 2 – Incheon didn't drop a point and Suwon only lost points to the dominant Red Angels: Highlights Suwon 2 - 1 Gumi Sports Toto (Week 8) 수원도시공사 vs 구미 스포츠토토 Incheon 3 - 1 Suwon (Week 9) 인천 현대제철 vs 수원도시공사 (an all-Korean scoresheet, too – Jang Sel-gi 12', Kang Chae-rim 53', Park Hee-young 73', and consolation goal by Lee Hyun-young 80') Hwacheon moved into 3rd, displacing Gyeongju. Those teams drew 1-1 in week 7. Then, another repeat of the 2018 final, Gyeongju v Incheon, in week 8. Again the home team ran the game close – Lee Geum-min scored twice, but Incheon equalized after 70' and won 4-2 with a double by Brazil's Beatriz. Beatriz played four WWC 2019 games (photo: Jamie Smed, cc-by) Army club Boeun fell to 5th, beating Changnyeong 3-1 with Ban Do-yeong's two goals, but Boeun only drew 0-0 at home to Seoul. That was also the only point for any of the bottom teams, Gumi, Seoul or Changnyeong, in weeks 7-10. Seoul 0 - 3 Gyeongju (Week 10) 서울시청 vs 경주한수원 (Goals: Park Ye-eun 6', Jeoun Eun-ha 12', Asuna Tanaka 59')
Hat-trick for Lee Geum-min, in her final game in the league: Goals Boeun Sangmu 0 - 3 Gyeongju KHNP, week 13 보은상무 vs 경주 한수원 13R (이금민 해트트릭!!!) Nice post-match interview, too - it even made sense on the subtitles. She's gone and signed for, uh, some English team - https://www.womensfootball.co.uk/po...making-their-mark-in-the-womens-super-league/ (Archived)
Weeks 11–15: Seeing Incheon's defensive problems early against Boeun, it was easy to imagine them being punished by a more clinical attack line. Two weeks later it was a reality: 1st half highlights Incheon v Hwacheon KSPO, Week 13 인천현대제철 vs 화천KSPO Ripping through Incheon in the first half, the Hwacheon captain Son Yoon-hee, American forward Annelie Leitner and her Brazilian strike partner Luana gave the team the lead three times. In the second half, Incheon's better conditioning saw them to a 5-3 win. Hwacheon's Luana also scored in week 12, in a 2-1 win over Boeun. The last team to score 3 past Incheon in one half? Seoul in 2018. The race for 2nd and 3rd is very close - Gyeongju beat Suwon 5-2, with Lee's brace before her final match's hat-trick. Gyeongju will miss her attacking partnership with Ivory Coast's Josée Nahi. Hwacheon aren't far behind but only drew with their two rivals, and somehow lost 1-0 at home to the bottom club Changnyeong – captain Hong Hye-ji scored for their first win of the season. (After 15 weeks) Incheon 43pts, Suwon 26, Gyeongju KHNP 23, Hwacheon KSPO 22, Boeun 19, Gumi 17, Seoul 7, Changnyeong 6 Incheon also won 5-0 v Gumi, and made it look easy against Gyeongju: Incheon 4 - 0 Gyeongju KHNP, Week 15 인천 현대제철 vs 경주 한수원 15R Goals by Thais, Jang Seul-gi, Beatriz and Choi Yoo-jung. Surely nobody could stop them from winning in week 16....???? Gyeongju were missing some key players. Asuna Tanaka was a half-time sub and played with commitment and many grimaces. Looking at her minutes, I guess she had a slight injury; she started in week 17 v Seoul.
Weeks 16–20: Oh my goodness! Suwon 1 - 1 Incheon, Week 16 Beatriz (45'), Suwon equalizer by Kim Yun-ji (55') with a fine assist by Oh Yeon-hee - youtu.be/PtQkidhgXY0&t=2h21m21s Incheon's winning run was 13 games, or "half an Ajax" as it's known in the biz. (...You know, you can spoiler this cheap 'tension' anytime. I had actually known they didn't win...) In week 19, Incheon and Seoul had a derby at Mokdong Stadium in western Seoul, where the champs ran out as 5-1 winners, while Suwon beat Gyeongju 3-2 – in the race for the 2nd slot in the final, they're inseparable. They'll have to play a post-season playoff, or something (These are the rules.) But Gyeongju got 3 wins in 5 games, to be slightly ahead of Suwon in week 20. In 4th place, Hwacheon KSPO beat Suwon 2-0, but Hwacheon had a couple of close losses to lower clubs and fell 6 points adrift. Two of the most amazing results for last-place Changnyeong, among all their defeats. They were strong and disciplined in defence against the country's top team, and at Suwon they got a battling draw. 7pts in 20 games! Incheon 1 - 0 Changnyeong, Week 17 - youtu.be/nm_UZkHWP8Q&t=2h10m10s Suwon 2 - 2 Changnyeong, Week 20 - youtube.com/watch?v=1bx6GyQxv5Y&t=2h10m22s (Goals: Kim Mi-yeon 27, Moon Mi-ra 45' - Son Hwa-yeon 39', Choi Ji-na 48')
That should be, Suwon won by a "Pelé score" (펠레 스코어). Dunno if even Pelé knows that phrase! (Valter Campanato / Agência Brasil, cc-by) In a week when Korea held the USA 1-1 (God bless Korea), also two of the WK-League's Brazilians were present in the Seleção's 2-1 win in England – Luana (of Hwacheon) won praise for her midfield performance, and Beatriz was up front in a supporting role. Her stats this season are impressive again (12 goals in 15 league games) but missing 10 matches would imply she had an injury as well as national duty. Ivorian striker Josée Nahi (Gyeongju) leads with 14 goals. Suwon have a trio of Japanese players now: Haji (jersey no.5) and two players who moved from Kibi university, Mayu Ikejiri (11) and Hemmi Momoko (18). The first two are regulars, as seen in Suwon's big week 16 game, and week 24 at Boeun Sangmu, when Ikejiri got a goal. Important match of title hopefuls Gyeongju v Suwon will be on Monday, sadly not live online because they're showing Changnyeong again. Not wanting to go on about the greatness of the bottom team (25 games, 8pts), but I like any club whose badge says "SINCE 2018" as if it's the classical era.
End of the 2019 season is almost here. Playoff contenders will be decided in this week's matches, including 1st v 3rd live today (Monday) and the last night of the regular season, Thursday. Weeks 21–26: Incheon dropped points at Gumi 2-2 and at Gyeongju 1-1, before a 3-1 win over playoff challengers Suwon (4th). The fifth-place club Gumi fell one place from 2018, when they lost striker Yeo Min-ji to Suwon. Gumi got a hat-trick of 2-2 draws against top clubs, as they also held Gyeongju and Suwon, but Suwon stayed in the race with important 2-0 wins at Boeun (6th) and Gyeongju (2nd). Goals Boeun Sangmu 0 - 2 Suwon - (Moon Mi-ra 27', Mayu Ikejiri 78') youtu.be/hYV7gitiRNY&t=2h15m23s Changnyeong 0 - 5 Hwacheon KSPO - (Luana 4', Yoshimi Natsuki 7', Park Cho-rong 33', Jeon Ga-eul 45', 85') youtu.be/vf2Wrv5ri8o&t=2h11m51s Hwacheon played it perfectly with 5 wins and a draw, but now they'll have a very tough week. Playoff picture with 2 games to go, except Gyeongju (*1 game to go) 1 Incheon 70pts 2 Gyeongju KHNP* 46pts +23GD, 3 Hwacheon KSPO 44pts +19GD, 4 Suwon WFC ::: 43pts +8GD Suwon can enter the playoffs with 2 wins against the bottom 2 clubs. Gyeongju played an extra game in August so have only one more on Thursday, Gyeongju v Hwacheon. And today, Hwacheon are away at the champions Incheon, who are still undefeated in 2019. Easy, right? Incheon v Hwacheon KSPO Week 27 Live, Monday 28 Oct (10:00 GMT / 19:00 KST)
... wrong! Hwacheon had no Luana in the squad, and looked low on ideas. Tonight (Thursday), will Suwon beat them to the playoff spot? It's the final night in the regular season, see below. Other big issues of the week, in order of importance: 1. Does this word "mu" 무 mean a draw, or a radish, or nothingness? Google translator is giving very mixed messages. 2. Choi In-cheul: Bad Or Sad? The champions Incheon were coached by Choi for 8 years, he got the WNT manager's job... maybe you know the rest. Choi planned to go back to Incheon, but the club terminated his contract on 26 September, presumably decided by the owners Hyundai Steel. Acting managers are Park Sung-yeol and Kim Eun-sook. Surprisingly, on the day of his firing, the Incheon team made their game a tribute to Choi, recorded a message with no.9 Jung Seol-bin, and unfurled a "thank-you" banner after a goal. In the stadium afterwards the players were so upset, I didn't understand, I thought someone had died. The Korea Times mentioned he was popular at the club, despite him apparently continuing to use old-style corporal punishment after joining the club. I shed no tears for him ... eh, I dunno what to say. Are people too forgiving nowadays? 3. What's it like at a WK-League game? This vlog video will answer all your questions, and yes they have pizza 4. Season finale, who'll make the playoffs? Suwon won 4-3 on Monday at Changnyeong, who gave the game of their lives but it wasn't enough. If Suwon get a point today, they'll be in the 2nd-v-3rd playoff next week. Suwon WFC v Seoul WFC Week 28 Live, Thursday 31 Oct (10:00 GMT / 19:00 KST)
It can mean all three. Just depends on context (and ultimately, the corresponding chinese character if there is one). draw, radish, or "lack of" / nothing
By my calculations, the team that will stop Incheon is... I dunno, themselves? They've achieved the league's first ever undefeated regular season (24W, 4D) in 2019, which they also nearly did in the previous four years. They've adapted well to their new coaches in the past month. The crazy final of 2018 will play on their minds, but it was quite unique. The Playoff is today, starting soon. Some good news for women's soccer, and an extra motivation for Incheon - the new AFC Women's Club Championship is a 4-team trial tournament happening in Korea in a few weeks, with the last champions of Korea, China, Japan and Australia. The WK scoring charts (from KWFF) put Incheon's Beatriz on 16, teammate Jang Sel-gi 13 goals and 17(!) assists, and Gyeongju's Josée Nahi has 14 goals. In the international break, football was part of the Korean National Sports Competition in its 100th edition. The honours went to Hwacheon KSPO, who beat Boeun Sangmu 2-0 in the final - Incheon lost 4-2 in the semi-finals, highlighting the Red Angels' shocking lack of depth when you take away their international players (most of their first XI) ... Army club Boeun had their annual international journey and finished 4th as South Korea's representative in the Military World Games.
PO: Possible Outrage It's the game they call the PO, the single-elimination playoff of 2nd v 3rd, Gyeongju v Suwon. Today's winner reaches the WK-League championship final against Incheon. How did they get here? Gyeongju won 2nd place, home advantage, and ended Hwacheon's hopes with a 4-0 victory: goals by Jeoun, Tanaka, Park Ye-eun and Kim Hye-ji in week 28. Suwon guaranteed 3rd place with a tough win, 2-1 (video). Seoul's Choe Mi-rae opened the scoring, but in the last 15 mins Suwon stole it with 2 goals (Ikejiri / Kim Yun-ji). Gyeongju and Suwon were separated only on goal difference. Their meetings have also been even. On this ground, Gyeongju won 5-2 in July, but Suwon won 2-0 in October. Last year, Gyeongju won the playoff 2-0. Will they be finalists in 2019? Gyeongju KHNP v Suwon WFC Playoff 2019 Live, Monday 4 Nov (10:00 GMT / 19:00 KST)
There is one of two things at play here: 1) Stockholm syndrome, or 2) the belief that at some point Choi In-cheol is going to be back in a position of power in the women's soccer world (which I've heard from a couple of players they definitely expect). Hitting players isn't a thing he did in the past, it was a thing he did in recent history. Players were too scared to ever say anything about it as, 1) they really had nowhere to go for help, 2) they feared losing their jobs - both of these things are all too common in women's soccer and abuse - physical and sexual - is rampant around the globe as outside of Western Europe and North America, women's soccer players have little power and don't make enough money to risk not having a job. With Choi, one player had the guts to speak up when he was appointed national team manager and that triggered the dominoes that led to his resignation and ultimately forced Hyundai Steel to ditch him. I have a hard time imagining that the other players somehow adored him.
The tribute gave me some "England v Russia 2017" flashbacks, but let's not go into that. WK-League finals time on Thursday!... The winners of the PO were Suwon, 2-0, a gutsy away win. Key player Moon Mi-ra set up her strike partner Ikejiri for 1-0, and then Moon scored a wonderful second goal. Suwon's only other final was in 2010. As runners-up, they beat Incheon 2-1, with goals by Jeon Ga-eul. Between 2011-18 Suwon had three playoff losses – but now they've made it, can they possibly upset the favourites Incheon? Head-to-head, Suwon deserve their shot, after taking two (2!) points from Incheon in a pair of 1-1 home draws, losing both games at Incheon 3-1, so maybe there'll be no 'clean sheet'. But unlike the 2018 final, the Red Angels have Beatriz available, as they seek their 7th title. Also, last week Jang Sel-gi was throwing a phone around... that won't help anyone's concentration Final 1st leg: Suwon WFC v Incheon Thursday 7 Nov 2nd leg: Incheon v Suwon WFC Monday 11 Nov (Playoff/Final info on YTN.co.kr) The venue on Thursday: Suwon Sports Complex (img)
Final ☆Here it goes: Suwon WFC v Incheon Red Angels Final, 1st leg Live, Thursday 7 Nov (10:00 GMT / 19:00 KST)
.....And Beatriz (Bia) scores!.... in China... because she's playing for Brazil against Canada at this precise moment I neglected to mention that this final was organized during an international window Beatriz was injured at last year's. Wonder if we'll ever see her in a final again?
More than that, Incheon were second-best - I couldn't believe how deep they were playing, and Suwon had most of the attacks. It could've been a repeat of 2018, if Suwon had as dangerous a strikeforce as Gyeongju had then (Lee/Nrehy/Nahi). Final 1st leg: Suwon WFC 0 - 0 Incheon - ( Lim Seon-joo 90') www.youtu.be/rfROVJbdKBk&t=2h25m40s - Match report, KWFF (Archive) Bring on Monday! About Beatriz and the international question, I think it's the other way round - she signed for Incheon in 2013, but didn't score a goal for Brazil until 2015. Thursday's Brazil game was probably Beatriz's best ever for them - she got 2 goals in a 4-0 win. So, I'd say that the regular playing time in the WK-League has helped her career and some others, but the league hasn't attracted many established internationals from overseas yet.
That's confirmed - Yongin will host the women's champions of 4 nations in the tournament, November 26-30. Incheon v Beleza (Japan), Jiangsu (China) and Melbourne Victory (Australia). It'll be at the Yongin Sports Park stadium, an impressive venue but not really the logical choice (?) being 50km from Incheon. Info/schedule www.mk.co.kr in Korean / English Autotranslated (Archived) And from December 10 in Busan, the EAFF Women's Championship will run alongside the men's tournament, both featuring Korea, Japan and China. In the women's tournament, DPR Korea is replaced by Chinese Taipei/Taiwan.