REAL BUSAN run rings around their old friends DMZ in the PUSAN DERBY yet still manage to lose 2-0

3.00pm, sunday, november 13th ~ kangsan league ~ gimhae

real busan 0 dmz 2 (ht: 0-1)

Tonight DMZ are in that great footballing position of being able to use that old World Cup quote from Oliver Bierhof which sticks in the mind 'cause it's so German ~ "they played better; but we won". Which, over beers later in the pub, they did, again and again. Ah, history belongs to he who wins ~ the DMZ are deserved, runaway champions, and not only that but they won this afternoon too. Great for them! The thing is, just as you are taking your hat off to congratulate them, they are singing songs right at you like right cocky gits, and then telling you tall tales about how they "cleverly" contained wave after wave of Real Busan attacks today by getting their whole team behind the ball, then booting it upfield to Roman and hoping he'd do something with it.

But that doesn't quite tell the story of today's game ~ they didn't win today by playing like that at all. That is how they played, granted, but their goals came via a decent shot through a crowded penalty area by that Scouse Dave on their first attack after half an hour; then midway through the second half they get the biggest unforced gift goal I've ever seen a Real Busan player give away, as Hyeong-Min, having a fair game in goal, kicked a clearance right at their Canadian Dave, who came steaming in for the moment of his life and drove it back over the keeper's head and in for 2-0, and Real's comeback task is doubled, and in the end they were not equal to it.

Anyway hats off to the uncocky Dave Greene for getting to unleash this unstoppable drive that won the game ~ it looked like God himself had ordained that he would get to score today after all the hard work he has put in for our league. But DMZ (I mean the spokesmen of the pub, now) ~ take off the beer goggles! As if that was some high, strategic, "game of chess" victory ~ you got outplayed and you lucked out, that is what happened today! And of course, this happens in football, so what can you do? Cheers.

Here is the Real Busan line-up. Normal goalie; Kyle at left back, Jay Crewe sweeping, Gino stopping and John at right back; Jan "Neil Young" Guzik back in on the left wing and Solomon back on the right, with the usual two Marcelo and Scott in the middle; Bruno and Gerry up front, our two twinkletoes boyz who like to dribble it. Out today were Lou & Timmy O (out of town but not together although how do we really know that?), Se-Jong, (injured and out of town) and Pete (sick).

Real Busan actually played well today, which they couldn't claim after last weekend's 2-2 draw versus Daegu, where they did not bring their passing boots and put in a game of annoyingly below-par football. This afternoon, on this fantastic turf field in Gimhae up the mountain, they got going and pretty much clicked for a good solid half an hour of quality ~ you see, at this point, when DMZ play Real, it feels like a derby. DMZ have now won back-to-back titles and now, next season, it is the fixture that both teams will look for first when the fixture list comes out. (And before the fixture list gets screwed up by perpetual bumpings off.)

Back came Real's passing game then. This afternoon I would say the performance at the back of the puzzlingly bearded Jay Crewe was a key one. This was his best display in a Real shirt, with his talking and calling and general bossing ~ giving the midfield more space to express themselves. And Kyle, who is back in form himself. Plus of course Gino, supplementing the midfield 4 with his pressing and passing and coming to the ball ~ then you had the midfield 4 in fine form, all of them. From this base came very good an close chances for Gino, Scott, Marcelo, Gerry, and Bruno, all in the first half hour.

It was a nice half hour, nice, speedy, good football, great to be a part of, taking it to the champions, sending them a message, watching them all get all pissed off at each other, so imagine everyone's surprise when they took the lead from their first attack, when the ball broke free to Scouse Dave, who drove it home from about 25 yards. Nice goal, nice bloke, and the game is at this point "delicately poised". Real pressed and pressed but couldn't break through and along came half time ~ no reward but their best half in a good while. Especially in the middle ~ feisty, quick-thinking, quick-moving, and dangerous ~ but in fact through the whole team.

In the second half DMZ got their bodies behind the ball and soaked up whatever Real had to throw at them. Their defence is obviously decent and of course their midfield know how to come to the ball and get stuck in, so it was less chances at both ends now, yet you still felt an equaliser would come until "it" happened. Hyeong-Min, who had pulled off this unbelievable reflex save from close range from Roman at the end of the first half, done his first screw up for Real when he passed the ball out to Dave Greene instead of one of his own players ~ Real were hoping Dave'd see Hyeong-Min's screw-up and raise it by doing an even bigger screw-up himself but he didn't. He hit this goal-of-the-season type screamer from 35 yards into the back of the net which stopped the world turning for a good few seconds.

He got mobbed by the DMZ boys, while Real picked themselves up and threw themselves at the task again but from here on in, despite the impressive sense of urgency, and the huge sense of nearliness they created, that was it, they couldn't muster another good chance, just nearly stuff around the DMZ box.

DMZ of course deserve a sound thrashing for the lack of sporting etiquette in the last minute where they started singing songs at Real ~ I'm not talking "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland, or even "Hey Jude" by the Beatles ~ but rather a load of taunting shit. Very funny boys, haha, every dog has its day and Happy Xmas. Anyway I've been round doing this for a fair few moons, and relations have been worse, even silly, between Real and the DMZ. Nowadays they are not bad at all at all. In fact I would say, despite the huge lack of class shown at the end by some of 'em, relations are just fine ~ Real know them, they know Real, and what has emerged is quite the respectable derby atmosphere come game time.

And final word ~ ~ ~ beautiful field, love it, what a wonderful footballing location, lets protect this one shall we?

man of the match ~ marcelo gortari

Marcelo was quite on song today and put in a super 90 minutes. Real's attacking strength and threat tended to come through this guy.

#2 mom ~ scott jolly

Wasn't for nothing that Real won the midfield battle this afternoon ~ Scott Jolly, Scott Jolly, demonstrated what was what.

#3 mom ~ gino nini

Who better to have in your team in a derby game?

bubbling just under

Jay Crewe and Kyle Murray were feisty in d, while Solomon and Jan were right there on the wings.

opposition's mom ~ marcelo gortari

We see eye-to-eye on something at least ~ the obvious.

our mom off the opposition ~ mick dennehy

Even though he deserved a good kick up the arse for taking the piss out of the Real Busan players at the end, he played pretty all right before that. Good game, good hustle, as usual, looked like Bob Geldof steaming around getting stuck in, a bit less then endearing towards the end but anyway, their MoM.

quote of the day ~ sean coakley of cork

Sean ~ You played well today like.

John ~ What do you mean? Who played well? Me? I played well or the team played well?

Sean ~ The team; fuck, you've never played well in yer life like...

the table at the end of the weekend ~ well that's it, see you next season ~ although the bottom half got shook up with psv's first win since god knows when ~ now its wide open down there

the other game

PSV 1 WON SHOTS 0

next week's game ~

Daegu v DMZ

REAL BUSAN come back twice against DAEGU to finish all square at 2-2 as referee shaves 11 minutes off the game

2.00pm, sunday, november 13th ~ kangsan league ~ yangsan

real busan 2 daegu devils 2 (ht: 0-1)

scorers: scott jolly, gerry mcgurk

Real Busan came back twice against the divvels of Daegu this afternoon in a game that could really have gone very far either way but, at 2-2, was probably fair and square. Daegu with their superior shape and discipline ~ and with their something to play for ~ were better in the first half; but Real found their energy in the second half and had the better of the play and had the opportunity to put their opponent away but in the end, didn't do quite enough so fair is fair and neither team is really happy with the result. Daegu now can not be champions; Real found that out last week; so it's DMZ again already ~ hasn't it been a short season, this one. Adding to both teams' sense of irritation is the ref today, who cut the first half short at 34 minutes out of error but refused to add the extra time back on once he realised what he'd done at half time ~ even though we had loads of time to do so ~ this game decided a championship ~ WHAT IS THAT ~ ? ~ ! ~ ?

Well, here is the non-championship-winning Real Busan, November 2005 ~ the two serial dribblers up front, flanked by Pete and Tiger; the two legends in the centre mid; and a familiar-looking yet shuffled defence of Timmy O, Jay Crewe sweeping, Gino stopping, and John on the right; Hyeong-Min in goal and Kyle "Head" Murray on the bench. Out today and honestly missed were Solomon, Lu, Jan and Se-Jong. If we'd had them I tell you...

Real Busan v Daegu is always a good game of football full of battle and fight and today, if it didn't quite match the three earlier battles we have had in terms of tension, still served up a good level of football. Daegu have shape ~ that is their most obvious attribute, and they go in hard; when they took the lead in the first half it was a perfect counter-attacking goal from a team that is playing right. They get the ball, hit one through ball, then another, which gets to the striker just before the outrushing keeper gets to it and he puts it slowly but surely in the back of the Real net for a Daegu lead; lovely (for them). And it was no more then they deserved. Not exactly because they were brilliant, but because they stopped whatever Real threw at them, but more pertinently, Real "we pass it round you" Busan were having trouble with even basic passing this afternoon. Does a side like that deserve to be anything other than 1-0 down at half time? Not a bit!

Daegu have a few good midfielders but because you only see them on the field, you never even get to find out their names. But they do know how to run hard, get their foot in and launch quick attacks, so it's no big surprise that come the end of the season, they're up there. All half, Real would get the ball, Marcelo would launch these amazing 40 yard passes to Bruno, which he'd then try to dribble round about 26 guys, finally losing it, then away Daegu would go, dashing upfield, overpassing it, then Real would start again with another attempt at the passing game, which would get cut out by Daegu and they'd break again ~ and so we passed the first half, running.

The less said about half time the better. The ref blew up on 34 minutes by mistake because his timepiece had stopped, and didn't allow the 11 minutes a Daegu guy was down and seriously injured; then refused to add the time back on, so this championship deciding (for Daegu) game lasted 79 minutes. Again, the less said, the better.

The second half was closer to reasonable football out of Real Busan, who found their pressing boots, and managed to press and press and equalise, when John found himself in the box with just enough time to square it to Scott, who steered the ball home and it's huge glee and delight out of the Real boys because they'd pulled it back.

Those into dark humour will love the next bit then. About 45 seconds later Real concede a free kick about 5 yards outside the box, and, wary of the threat of amazing free kicks, having conceded some stormers this year against PSV (twice) and then more recently Inter, they defend it properly. No matter though ~ Daegu slam it perfectly into the top right corner and they're 2-1 up against already. The moment begged a bit of Schadenfreud but don't forget there are no fans for these games. No-one came, no-one saw, no-one laughed at us. Thank GOD Inter weren't there.

But now Real were playing better, at last. The game had its drama and the result mattered, but from now on it was Real who were going for it. Can't lose this one. Up popped Gerry McGurk out of nowhere to pounce on a bouncing ball on the edge of the box and lash it amazingly into the bottom right corner for the second equaliser and it's 2-2, 15 minutes to go, and all gung ho football. Bruno gets a breakaway but screws it up. Scott Jolly does this drive that frankly did not belong at this level of football, and looked a goal all the way but the goalie did this diving save that he is VERY proud of that tipped the ball onto the post. Real press, Daegu break, Real press, Daegu break, and then the final whistle blew and that was that. No winner, not the best game it could have been, and HURRY UP NEXT SEASON, can't wait to play some meaningful footy again.

Are we gonna do a Busan Cup this year? We got 5 hours at Yangsan on the 18th of December...

man of the match ~ scott jolly

Five minutes before the end, Scott unleashed a seemingly unstoppable drive into the bottom right corner that had GOAL written all over it; it seemed to hit the back of the net and he turned away to celebrate his winner BUT MEANWHILE their keeper got a fingertip to it and pushed it onto the inside of the post where it rebounded along the line and away to safety. Best moment of skill out of a Real Busan player all day and deserved better. Anyway Scott doesn't have bad games, he scores goals, he equalized today and played well.

#2 mom ~ marcelo gortari

Wasn't as impactful as we all know him but still covered every blade for the cause. Many covered too many blades and spread himself a little bit too thin? Still present enough to do the good stuff all over and pull some magical strings.

#3 mom ~ gino nini

Headers and tackles, headers and tackles, battling and again, not a vintage Gino game but the rest of the team didn't individually or especially collectively shine bright enough today to muscle the old guard off the 1-2-3 spots.

opposition's mom ~ ?

our mom off the opposition ~ their goalie, especially for that great save from jolly.

the table at the end of the weekend ~ the dmz are champs again ~ can we all try a bit harder to stop them next time? look at their goal difference!

the other games

INTER 2 PSV 0

next week's game ~

Real Busan v DMZ

Lu's hat-trick helps REAL BUSAN beat INTER to make the final cut ~ it's DMZ, DAEGU & REAL in the upper mini-league now

2.00pm, sunday, november 6th ~ kangsan league ~ namsan field

real busan 5 inter yer gran 2 (ht: 3-2)

scorers: bruno civera, lu delicious 3, gerry mcgurk

Real Busan convincingly beat Inter 5-2 this afternoon up on the Namsan field which looks fit for cows to graze on and made the final cut for the top half of the table ~ now the final two games of the season is top quality shit ~ Real, Daegu & DMZ ~ lovely. No need for DMZ's knees to go all trembly though ~ we're 6 points and 21 goals behind them so even if they do collapse in their last 2 games, it would have to be some catastrophic level collapse for Real to claim their crown back now. They might be reading this going "oho look at him and his mind games" but do the maths ~ Real Busan ain't getting their precious this season. Boo Hoo. And fair enough ~ our rivals got better results than us. But we're still here you know ~ ~ ~

Anyway this is a snapshot of Real Busan this afternoon ~ normal strikeforce; midfield saw Pete "best footballer in the world" Reeves on the left wing putting in this mighty performance, I'm fortunate enough to speak enough Korean to hear the old guys in the crowd gasping "My! He's been practising!" Meanwhile Bruno "Martelli" Civera on the right and a familiar looking defence; and try-outer Albert, with his Victorian-era name, on the bench. Out for Real = Solomon, Jay, Jan and Tiger.

But it wasn't all plain sailing, as Inter went 1-0 up with a neat goal on 5 minutes ~ well it is their Cup Final so you can't begrudge 'em it. Nice goal too, anyone'd be delighted with it ~ the ball broke to Kurt on the edge of the box after a free-kick, and he lashed it in off the post ~ sweet. And how they celebrated. But on 10 minutes it was 1-1, thanks to Bruno. Lou took the ball into the box and found Bruno in the centre who took it and pushed the ball into the left hand corner of the goal for a deserved equaliser. Then already we're 2-1 up ~ Pete Reeves showed perfect aggression on the left wing in this chase with their right back, and over a medium distance he just won the race and got this fine cross in for Lu to stick in nicely, admirable goal and the Real Busan are in front. And soon they add another with a dummy run on the edge of the box by Marcelo ~ weaving a web of tricks around Inter all day ~ leaving Gino's pass to put Gerry through and into a position where he could pull it back for Lu to find the back of the net and put Real into a 2 goal lead.

The debutant ref Leo was late today with a field mix-up so the field manager stood in during the first half and put in the performance of a drunkard, distracting one or two or eight guys from playing football. Anyway at least he enjoyed himself ~ going from "get off my land" to "come back any time you damn well want" ~ I think we got a field in Pusan now. Reffingwise, he was a bit blind though.

Real are playing decent now but Hyeong-Min picks up an innocuous back-pass and hands Inter a free-kick in Real's box which they slam in for 3-2 and despite some fun attacking football for Real that's the way it stayed until half-time.

Second half much more of an open game. Inter had less men back in defence and pushed up looking for a draw but left the door open for wave upon wave of Real breaks ~ Real Busan are a good team but are sort of casual at times going forward ~ if Real Busan were collectively a proper sharp knife, the score would have been a lot harsher than it was. But they added two more goals at least ~ that Pete Reeves again showing the world what a good player he is when he isn't in goal with a burst down the right wing, and a cross, met expertly by Lu for a nice volley and that is a hat-trick. When was the last time a Real Busan player got a hat-trick? Certainly not this season anyway. Also during the second half came Gerry's one, when he headed a long, bouncing pass over their goalie and set himself up with a chance to blast the ball into an empty net for 5-2. And good to see the Scotsman get on the scoresheet with a right poacher's goal, the sort all strikers should be nicking and for a blurry "what year is this?" moment there it looked like we had Kenny Munn back among us up front.

All that was left was for John, on a foray upfield, to nearly score a great goal but not. A pass from Bruno on the edge of the box, a nice dragback past one guy, a cut inside another, and a shooting chance but infuriatingly, a crap shot right at the keeper, HOW DISAPPOINTING. And haunting. Still, life goes on.

Thanks Inter for a good, stiff, hustley footballing test till the final whistle, see you next year. And thanks to the ref on his debut, I wish you many fruitful matches reffing in this league. Was it a tough game to start off on? Probably but a reasonable debut for the ex-PSVer.

man of the match ~ lu delicious

Now that was a swashbuckling Indiana Jones-like hat-trick, very impressive ~ you are a model to us all, the way you get better and better and better every game.

#2 mom ~ pete "point to prove" reeves

Ahhh young Pete Reeves and his own Indiana Jones performance ~ here's another guy that has obviously got better and better and demonstrated to this footballing community that he is not just a pretty face and not just a goalie ~ he's a wicked player in the middle of a good run of form. Which keeps getting interrupted for this reason and that reason but a few back to back games like that and we got a proper solid asset in the team.

#3 mom ~ yoo se-jong

Talking of transformations, this guy has turned from a nice, polite, young Korean man into a werewolf! Who got to every ball first today, and smokes at half time, and is the leader of the Koreans ~ welcome to Yoo Se-Jong, who doesn't understand a word John says. Although when you think of it, it doesn't really matter.

bubbling just under

Marcelo of course. He put in a MoM performance all day of passing, dribbling and talking; Gino and Scott were all right too.

Kyle is hitting stride now too after a long lay-off with a broken arm and then on his amazing vacations around the globe.

opposition's mom ~ ?

our mom off the opposition ~ ?

the table at the end of the weekend ~ the league title is out of real's hands now. boo hoo.

the other games

DMZ 9 PSV 1; DMZ 5 WONSHOTS 0 ~ DMZ's title now surely.

next week's game ~

Mola

REAL BUSAN put together a fair win against PSV and now lie in 3rd ~ I'm dying to add "ominously" but I really shouldn't

12.30pm, sunday, october 30th ~ kangsan league

real busan 5 psv 2 (ht: 4-0)

scorers: tiger, luscious delicious 2, marcelo gortari, gino nini

Real Busan ran out comfortable winners today in a calm game of football with PSV, who had very few of last season's vintage out today and instead fielded a new lot of (mostly Korean) faces. But by half-time it was a commanding and deserved 4-0 to Real and the second half was this amble in second gear that couldn't claim to be called great football, but this is what happens when you get a nice, big, early lead ~ you get a bit ahead of yourself and before you know it the magic has gone and 4-0 turns into 5-2. Still, three points in the bag, can't say fairer than that, and after two back-to-back losses, three points feels like a lungful of air after 30 seconds underwater.

Here's Real Busan for you ~ no Hyeong-Min this afternoon, nor our #2 keeper Pete Reeves, so in came little Solomon, who really looks about 14 years old ~ even if he was 14 he still might be the smallest guy in the class ~ into net for a cat-like show. What a guy ~ could he be the coolest fellow in our league? Yes! In defence, normal geesers; in midfield, normal geesers, including the now back Bruno; up front normal geesers. Yes, a settled team!

Well I won't take all day describing this one. Tiger dances in the box but takes too long and gets a scold from Gino, but five minutes later made up for it by doing another little dance and wriggle, and found the space and time to drill one home into the bottom left corner for 1-0. Tiger, of the football ~ he spent all morning playing in a tournament, then came to Yangsan, then went off and played somewhere else ~ his wife must be getting a bit pissed off with our Tiger, I hope she recognises him when he finally rolls in home tonight.

Lu heads one in from close range for 2-0 a bit later on. All fair and good. Moment of the match for 3-0, a pure bit of Uruguayan magic with a Jolly (who's not Uruguayan) pass finding Bruno who stopped it on the edge of the box then back-heeled it for Marcelo to run through, collect it and drill it under the keeper and home. Oof! A drive from the edge of the box by Gino found the back of the net and it's 4-0 and who's complaining? Near misses out of Lu and one or two others put Real into this cheerful half-time lead, only marred by this innocent clash of heads that saw PSV's Marcel end up with a damaged nose and blood all over his face and no-one wants that. (He went to the hospital and came back and it's all right though, which is good. Not a pretty sight though.)

The second half was less amazing though. An uncharacteristic error from the mistake-free Se-Jong put them back in for 4-1. Then Lu bulges the net again for 5-1, and that's the way it stayed until right near the end when PSV scored their second, a very skilful one with three headed passes finally being collected in the box by their little winger who rounded someone and put it in off the post and 5-2 ~ a good win but underwhelming in the end for Real who lost a lot of the momentum they built up in the first half. By momentum I mean goals ~ in fact, lots of good chances still, but less goals, just when guys were getting hungry for them. Well, that's football for you and roll on next week.

man of the match ~ bruno civeras

Sterling show from Bruno, who not only played better than anyone else on the park today, but also went and got the beers in after to drink while watching the mighty (disappointing) DMZ v Daegu game.

#2 mom ~ lu delicious

A fine two-goal show out of Lou, very stuck in, loads of lungs, good battling ~ it's what you want.

#3 mom ~ timmy o'donnell

Good old Timmy was tough and gritty and present all day today.

bubbling just under

Scott and Gino and Marcelo of course, none of whom know how to put in a bad game. And a good show by the defence, who switched it round a bit with 6 guys playing 4 spots but kept things consistent enough, especially that Se-Jong.

opposition's mom ~ ?

our mom off the opposition ~ mitch mattioli

Played very well but PSV are very low on their usual talent, many of whom were absent today ~ anyway Mitch was wicked and didn't deserve to go down this afternoon. Still, took it smiling as usual.

the table at the end of the weekend ~ the league title is out of real's hands now with those two early losses and here we are

the other games

DMZ 2 DAEGU 1, WONSHOTS 2 INTER 1

next week's game ~

Real Busan v Inter.

REAL BUSAN create enough chances to sink the good team DAEGU but lose anyway ~ good game though

3pm, sunday, october 16th ~ daegu devils ~ kangsan league

daegu 2 real busan 1 (ht: 1-1)

scorer: marcelo gortari

Real Busan all went to Daegu this afternoon for a game of football after last week's nightmare, and put in something like a performance that fits their greatly esteemed name in world football, but lost anyway. But this loss was a different animal to last week's loss ~ this time we turned up with a full team and subs, played properly, and created enough good chances to come home with three points in the bag, but unlucky finishing and a flat spell in the second half during which Daegu got their winner condemned Real to their second defeat in a row. Annoying. They're still here but that's the last 6 points dropped and now Real are even below the Won Shots. And they wanted to win the title...

Well, here is the side. Lots of new names and guys coming back ~ a novelty striking pair of Lou and Gerry; Marcelo in the middle back from his whopping 3 game ban where the league made an example of him, partnered by Gino in the middle and flanked by the tricky winger Solomon, who is, in case anyone doesn't know him, tiny; and Tiger, who is small and tricky too and 45 years old to boot. Resources in abundance in defence, who were all good today, that's Timmy O, Jay, Se-Jong and John; in goal is our Korean fellow Hyeong-Min, whose name isn't Jung-Min, as we've been calling him for 2 weeks now.

Well onto the game, which started as it meant to go on, both sides tussling and playing their hearts out and every kick mattering ~ this is football as it should be played. Three moments in the first ten minutes summed up the game ~ John breaks and puts Tiger through, who pulls it back for Gino to hit this great shot from the edge of the box that cracked against the post and rolled along the line and away to safety; Daegu hit a long pass for their striker to pull back to their guy who hits a screamer from 30 yards past Hyeong-Min for this really amazing opening goal and it's 1-0 to the Daegu Devils; Marcelo puts Tiger through on goal and he cracks one against the post again ~ that is football for you, and there you go!

This was an excellent first half of football ~ these excellent halves don't come along every week, and both teams were playing the good stuff, and talk about evenly matched. Daegu are this fine team that know how to knock it around ~ they specialise in long and medium passes to their strikers and wingers who run at your defence and cause trouble in and around the box ~ throughout the half they were present with a few good spiking attacks that bothered Real 'cause they meant they had to get back and defend instead of cavaleering upfield looking for goals.

Meanwhile Real Busan have this calm plataeu they play football at, even when they are losing, and today this was their friend and foe at once. During the first half, they played, played and played and the equaliser of course came, when Marcelo found the ball at the edge of the box and lashed home this fine, fine shot into the bottom right corner for 1-1. It would have been strange not to score during this best spell of theirs, coming at Daegu from the left, right and centre. John and Solomon were creative supporting the attack and both found guys with nice incisive passes and crosses again and again, while Gino, Marcelo made sure the team kept driving forward with a very good midfield run-out; Lou and Gerry were getting stuck into forward movements, and Jan was an option on the left all day.

Half time came and went and at 1-1, this calm came back to haunt the Real though because this was the spell to step it up a level but instead they didn't, which handed Daegu back the impetus to hit Real again and again with some long passes ~ they had this brilliant shot to the top right corner wondefully tipped over by Hyeong-Min, and finally they scored from one of them ~ a pass got intercepted in midfield while Real were committed to attack, and suddenly it's the Daegu striker against Jay ~ the guy did great to lob the bouncing ball over Jay then lash the bouncing ball under Hyeong-Min for 2-1 and the winner. This was annoying ~ self-belief is fine thing, except when you have a little too much of it, and you take your foot off the pedal and let the other lot in. And Daegu have players that will punish you when you do that ~ two brilliant goals sunk Real Busan this afternoon ~ these things happen when you play good teams.

That said, a fine final 15 minutes unfolded with Real finding that gas pedal at last and throwing themselves at Daegu for a fun final spell where they were definitely worth that equalising goal that never came. Pete Reeves, on as a striker is twice upended in the box but neither time gets a penalty ~ the second one was a bit of a glaring error by the ref, as the guy who held Pete back when clean through admitted his crime and apologised for it after. Then Gino does this career-best diving header that cracks against the post and out; next up Gino puts Lou through with this perfect pass but he went for power and forgot the accuracy, driving it just over the bar instead of placing it beautifully into the corner like, say, Ruud van Nistelrooy would have.

And then the final whislte blew, and Daegu had won an excellent game of football thanks to two excellent goals and a lot of hard passing and running that undone Real's passing game in the end ~ hats off to a very good team that will press DMZ all the way this season but Real really could have nicked this one ~ but they didn't.

man of the match ~ gino nini

A force going forward all day, and deserved two goals today with two excellent efforts denied by the woodwork; super pass for Lou at the end too, but got stuck in all day and battled ~ mom material.

#2 mom ~ lou delicious

A good show by Lou, very present, very stuck in, good battling ~ a lot of promise.

#3 mom ~ marcelo gortari

Welcome back, #10, to the season and the team ~ it's been too long and we missed you but that's history now and what a cracking goal.

bubbling just under

Honestly, everyone. Hyeong-Min, good new goalie; Tim, Jay, Se-Jong, John, Kyle fine defending and supporting the midfield; Solomon, Tiger, Gerry good good. This felt like a proper way to lose a game of football ~ go down fighting and creating chances.

opposition's mom ~ ?

our mom off the opposition ~ their #8

Whoever this guy is, he wore #8 and battled it up very good.

the table at the end of the weekend ~ not pleasing reading if you are a real busan fan but are there any real busan fans?

the other games

PSV 2 SHOTS 3

next week's game ~

DMZ v Inter, I think.

Followed by, the following week, this lot ~ Inter v Shots, Daegu v DMZ (ooh, sir!), & Real v PSV ~ would have been the game to watch once upon a time but now, Real is like this aging Old Lady that doesn't realise that no-one is looking at them any more! (Only joking ~ we are still, of course, beautiful, and will be even more so when Bruno gets back).

DMZ INFLICT UPON REAL BUSAN THEIR DARKEST HOUR WITH A 6-1 HIDING

3pm, sunday, october 9th ~ suyeong hasu chorijang ~ kangsan league

real busan 1 dmz 6 (ht: 0-4)

scorer: scott jolly

Real Busan suffered their worst ever day of football today, going down 6-1 to a mighty stacked DMZ team who seem to have replaced all their usual, normal players with a pool of excellent talent from SOMEWHERE. Still you'd expect Real to give anyone whatsoever a game so what happened out there today?

I'll tell you how this happened ~ just two factors; first, the DMZ have got a great team now and who's going to beat them on this form? Second, a crisis of available guys at Real happened too. Any say 13 Real Busaners there and we'd have had a proper game of footy. But 9 guys at the field plus one geeser from the pub who hadn't played in 10 years; then Solomon goes off injured making it even more impossible ~ you can't say anyone played badly out there, and for parts of the second half Real were even threatening out there ~ well, we made it into their half a few times; it's just that you can't take on a good football team with just 9 or 10 guys and that is that. So to those who came and battled ~ salute ~ you are great!

That is Gerry up front alone, with Solomon in the middle; a reasonable back four and a new Korean goalie. Just left this week = Eamon, Paul (who were both supposed to bleedin' be here today), JD, and Pedro. Out for short and medium-term = Se-Jong, Tiger, Marcelo, Bruno, Pete, Kyle, Lou, thank GOD we have those players coming back whenever they do get back and it's not the "where's the white shirts" nightmare that happened today every week ~ otherwise someone put a gun to my head! OH ~ if you are a footballer and reading this ~ CONTACT JOHN if you are interested in joining Real Busan ~ the door is open right now ~ open.

As for the game? All DMZ's shots went in in the first half and gave them a commanding 4-0 lead. I have post-traumatic stress disorder and I know how soldiers felt coming home from the First World War out of the trenches in France. No French people on display today, or Germans ~ did today really happen? It feels like I sank a few of those pitchers of Long Island Ice Tea and remember just moments from a flurry.

Real's Korean debutant goalkeeper was good and solid but no doubt must want to go and hide his head under the table as some good goals went past him ~ not his fault but when they all go in, it adds up and he had this "get me out of here" look on him when we left the field. The first was a lob from a guy put through on net; the second was from a burst down the right and a good shot that went under the goalie; the third was a cracker that went in off the bar by that Sean Coakley that I didn't even know played for DMZ; can't remember the fourth, or even a shot on target from Real in the first half. Just Solomon going off injured pretty early on, making it 8 Real Busan players plus the geeser from the pub. Everyone on the field sussed this was going to be a big win for DMZ today, and that's exactly how it turned out.

Second half was better though. Real borrowed one of the crumbs from the rich man's table, a good footballer called Drew who can't get in their team right now but they brought on this unbelievable winger who might even be better than Sebaldo, and he gave John nothing but a good physical workout all day, and Real held out for a while but eventually the 5th went in. Then the rally! Real pulled one back with a great shot by Scott Jolly from outside the box ~ could this game be pulled back to say, 5-2? Real had a couple of free kicks and showed a bit of mettle round now, with Gino prompting and driving, Jan and Gerry doing their best, Tim supporting where he could, Jay Crewe mixing it in the middle, John trying to keep up with that Wayne Rooney figure they got on their left wing ~ but back again and again came the DMZ, and the next and final goal of the game was theirs. Can't remember it though.

Ah, DMZ ~ won the summer league by just one point but they are a force to be reckoned with now though and no Pusan team is going to give them a game this season so best park your bus in front of their goal, it's your only hope. They got all the talent right now and even had a couple of good players missing today, no Roman and no skilful little New Zealander guy either. But the DMZ seem to have sole access to the pool of talent that is the Changwon team while some teams out here are starving for a new player! Well there's an Old Lady team in Pusan called Real Busan and if you are a half-decent footballer out there reading these words, and want to get us back back competing with the best where we belong, just knock on the door. We may have taken a hiding today but we're still here, with room for a couple of new faces.

And to Real's missing faces wherever you are ~ ~ ~ I am singing that old Temptations song all night 'cause of you: "Can't get by without you, no way...!"

man of the match ~ scott jolly

When this guy went and played sweeper, nothing got past us. Was a force today wherever he played.

#2 mom ~ gino nini

Another presence, didn't deserve to lose this game of football. Not exactly dancing a jig of joy at the final whistle though.

#3 mom ~ jan guzik

Jan, Jan, thank you, man for your guts again.

opposition's mom ~ ?

our mom off the opposition ~ paul lammens

Who is this guy? Wayne Rooney? Stop this contest for the best player in the league now, this guy has won already ~ ~ rest of the league beware, DMZ have picked up their own Sebaldo. No-one around will have anything in response to this guy I am telling you!

the table at the end of the weekend

the other games

DAEGU 9 PSV 1 ~ oops! Someone is just as badly off as Real!

next week's game ~

Daegu v Real

FIRST THINGS FIRST ~ CONGRATULATIONS TO DMZ, SUMMER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS TODAY FOR THE FIRST TIME ~ VERY WELL DONE TO A VERY GOOD TEAM AND GREAT TO SEE THEM HAPPY ~ FOR ONCE!

3pm, sunday, september 25th ~ yangsan ~ kangsan league

real busan 4 won shot wanderers 1 (ht: 2-1)

scorers: bruno civera 2, tiger, gerry mcgurk

Every game of football has its own story and this one was a tale of 2 teams mostly still drunk from the night before up at the league fundraising party at O'Brien's. Hope we raised some money last night and it was worth it financially, because the football served up on today's opening game of the new season wasn't all that brilliant. Drink does that to you! And each squad was utterly depleted too, 'cause too many guys couldn't get out of the bed ~ it was just about 11 v 11 mostly below par guys; next game will be better quality.

Another big influence on the game today was the ref ~ a good guy volunteering to step in from DMZ 'cause Richard didn't show up. He did a fair job but blowing up for decisions way late shot the nerves of the Shots; Real of course rolled with it 'cause they got nerves of STEEL and are a sporting example to us all; they are the Fair Play champions of the summer but ~ by a POINT ~ not the league champions. Disappointing!

Well here's how Real lined up. Quite the new team really, and undergoing some big changes. No Mike Lamb ~ there's a huge one for you ~ so stepping in as the lungs of the team was Lu, who did a fine job, getting better and better as the game wore on. Scott in the middle putting in a captain's performance, with Bruno and Gerry up front ~ Eamon, soon to depart for Vietnam, played left wing. No JD in goal so Gino stepped in but soon got bored; John then took a turn but had to come out after he started talking to himself, and then finally Tiger filled in in the goal. No subs ~ guys ~ you know the rules ~ if you aren't coming, tell John first! We started this game with 10 guys, man!

Off everyone went. Real are clearly still drunk but then so are the Shots, and the pattern settles ~ Real try to pass it around, the Shots hit 'em on the break. Then the Shots take the lead with a goal that was offside, the last man John was a couple of yards in front of Shea, called for a decision, didn't get it, and got punished as Shea burst through and stuck a really super shot into the back of the net from the edge of the box and it's 1-0 Shots. Too bad but at least we we introduced linesmen at this point, which turned out to be critical to how the game unfolded...

Real, 1-0 down now, put in an OK half hour of football now ~ Gino came out, got stuck in, and the team started making the chances. Gerry in particular was wanting to stick one in, having played for the Shots in the past but it was Bruno who got the equaliser ~ Gino brought the ball out of defence, hit Scott in midfield who swivelled, stepped, and put Bruno through with a fine pass; Bruno tucked it away nicely and it was 1-1.

And then the game turned inside out in the space of two minutes with two hugely contested issues. First, the Shots get a goal disallowed for offside. Their striker gets put through ~ in an offside position ~ and hit a shot against John's knee (in goal now) at the edge of the box which deflected towards the goal and in. The ref went to award the goal, but the linesman had flagged it offside so on consultation with him, the ref awarded a free kick to Real for offside and the goal didn't stand. It shouldn't have been as contentious as it was ~ it was no goal ~ but the lateness of the call was the heartbreaker for the Shots, who thought they'd got their noses in front again. Cruel game.

It never rains but it pours though, and a minute later Real score a goal that the Shots claimed was offside ~ Bruno had the ball while a Real striker made a run into an offside position, but crucially, Bruno didn't make the pass, and instead kept the ball. Thus, not offside. Then, he ran with it, and found Tiger, who was onside; he took the pass and drilled it low into the corner of the net and it's 2-1 to the Real Busan, and the Shots are gutted. Then it's half time, and the Shots in blue are storming among themselves and getting shouty. Who'd want to be a ref?

Second half, it was another game. Not as close now, Real created a lot of chances but only scored two more ~ Gerry got the goal he wanted when he was put through with a one on one; later on, Bruno got a lucky one but they all count and Bruno played a blinder anyway. So did Scott, and so did Lu, who was full of Mike Lamb type action in the middle of the field ~ no accident that these guys were not drinking last night.

But there was a bit more storm to come in the last 10 minutes but it was silly storm, not real storm, just Gareth "Lets Clean Up The Game" Copley running around like Benny Hill wanting to gnaw the ankles of any Real Busan player within 5 yards of him. At one point he called Tim Tiny ~ with real Satanic malice now ~ soon it went off, with the Benny Hill theme tune playing somewhere in the distance ~ Gino tackled the Shots's Korean left winger, who rolled and rolled and rolled like he was shot in the arse or something, and then looked at the ref to get something big out of it ~ HA! WHAT DID YOU WANT? THE OTHER GUY TO GET A CARD? Gino then gets grabbed by the neck, pushed around and snarled at by this furious-looking geeser in a blue shirt with a load of steam coming out of his head and wins the How DID you keep your head? award for taking it calmly, not retaliating, and demonstrating how to take it when someone's coming at you all fighty. I blame the Korean left winger myself; nothin' worse than an overactor to kick it all off.

Well. It's a new season so lets start generously on a nice, green leaf, be jolly, and not overserious. MoM goes to Scott Jolly, and we might just all keep our senses of humour this season ~ as we manage ourselves and each other to keep things reasonable. This footy lark, it's just a lark at the end of the day and we got the ingredients for the closest season ever now. DMZ took the summer title today by one point, over PSV and Real Busan, themselves level on points at the end. One point separating three teams. Now we got Daegu back too, who are clearly on song with a 5-0 away win today, while Inter keep improving, and the Shots are due an upturn after a shit run. Have we ever had it this good? And, for the first time ever, we got a new team to knock off their perch, DMZ, who are running round telling everyone that they are the best. Well they might be Champions but WHO are the FAIR PLAY CHAMPIONS, DMZ? Aha see? We're Real Busan and we always win SUMMIN'.

man of the match ~ scott jolly

Jolly good show from Scott who was on good form and in charge this afternoon.

#2 mom ~ lu

You can't just replace a huge piece like Mike Lamb, but Lu, after a spell in the first half when he was occasionally out of position, showed his balls enough to come through and boss the centre of midfield. Good, gutsy show.

#3 mom ~ bruno civera

Really, really good perfromance out of Bruno ~ goals, and passing, dribbling and running.

bubbling just under

Gino Nini ~ wicked play today, and patience of a saint. That Jay Crewe called a good game at sweeper too. And John Feleppa wins the are you sebaldo in disguise? award for that dummy on the right wing in the second half? Did anyone SEE it? It was around the 65th minute? Amazing.

opposition's mom ~ ?

our mom off the opposition ~ shea mcnamara

Quite the thorn in our side all day with his twisting and turning, and scored a great goal as well. Just shaded that Scouse Paul, who did well to keep his head in the game and stay focused when things were getting a bit stormy.

what are you doing old son? ~ gazza copley

Calm down, calm down, enjoy the game, no-one's paying us for this, don't take it so bleedin' seriously, don't be a public menace, buy yourself the Little Book of Calm; add a dash of lavender to your nightly bath for an aromatic, meditative end to each day. Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile...

the table at the end of the weekend

the other games

DMZ 5 PSV 0 ~ DMZ SUMMER CHAMPIONS

DAEGU 5 INTER 0 ~

next week's game ~

Field issues impacting scheduling ~ just don't know.

report by john feleppa