Englands Premier League Kicks Off
Englands Premier League kicked off its 2007-2008 season on Saturday, but the situation looks grim for Korean Premier Leaguers.
Middlesbrough, the team that Lee Dong-gook plays for, gave away a lead to lose, 1-2 to the Blackburn Rovers at its home field. Lee Dong-gook was not selected as a starter and was substituted in at the 38th minute of the second half, but did not rack up any goals or assists.
Tottenham Hotspur, the team Lee Young-pyo plays for, wrote huge paychecks to recruit new players but lost its opening game, 0-1 to Sunderland. Lee Young-pyo did not play in the game due to his injury.
The two players who took Lee Dong-gooks place were Jeremie Aliadiere and Yakubu Aiyegbeni. Middlesbrough gave away Mark Viduka in order to acquire Aliadiere, and he is the most powerful competitor to Lee Dong-gook for the same position. Aliadiere, however, does not get high acclaim. If Lee Dong-gook plays good games, he may win the position. Aliadiere was substituted out for Lee Dong-gook in the 38th minute of the second half. Lee Dong-gook also failed to show a good performance. Lee was in bad condition during the 2007 Asian Cup, and failed to stand out in this game as well.
Middlesbrough took the lead with Stewart Downings goal in the 30th minute of the first half, but gave away two goals to Roque Santa Cruz in the 18th minute of the second half and to Matt Derbyshire in the 34th minute of the second half.
The Internet edition of SKY Sports, the British sports channel, gave Lee Dong-gook four points. This was lower than Yakubus six points and Aliadieres five points.
Tottenham, which was deemed a dark horse this season, gave away the final goal to Sunderlands Michael Chopra with only 13 seconds left in the game.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, who stepped down from the English national football team manager position after getting caught swearing at his players, stepped up to become the manager of Manchester City. Eriksson manages the team that is owned by Thaksin Shinawatra, who is under fire from the Thai government for corruption charges. The team beat West Ham 2-0 in its first game.
bluesky@donga.com
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