Fanatics
Trip Start
Oct 23, 2006
1
14
27
Trip End
Oct 25, 2007
Seoul,
Korea Rep.
Monday, March 26, 2007
The chance to watch players such as Park Ji-Sung, Lee Young-Pyo and Seol Ki-Hyeon should have been reason enough to venture out to the Seoul World Cup Stadium on a cold March night. Plus the opposition on this night was Uruguay, whose top player is Alvaro Recoba - owner of argueably the best left foot in world football. But the biggest reason was to witness the Korean supporters in full voice. Voted the best supporters at WC 2006, they are a thing to behold.
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Organisation is the key. 20,000 sets of whacking sticks are just plain annoying of the banging is out of time. Realising this, the 'fanatics' regularly hold practice sessions to hone their skills and try out new choreography and tunes. No kidding. They were even sponsored by Samsung during the last WC in Germany, being supplied with all the necessary cheering equipment free of charge. Flares are also used on game day. Banned in Italy and Argentina because they make people wanna kill each other, in Korea they are used to add atmosphere and spectacle. Flares are pretty great.
You know what else is great - cheap snacks, and at the football here you pay the same price inside the ground that you would pay at the local supermarket. Wicked. Snacks include noodles, fried chicken and dried squid - the perfect half time pick-me-up.
On this night, however, there was not alot to cheer about. Korea fielded an attacking line-up for the home fans and dominated possession. Uruguay weren't in the mood to do more than absolutely necessary, and thus were happy to sit back and play counterattack. This proved the better strategy. Korea lacked imagination in their final third and twice Uruguay were able to nick goals when the Korean defence had pushed up too far
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. Final score 2-0 to Uruguay. Just over 35,000 turned up.The Seoul World Cup Stadium itself was purpose built for the WC in 2002. It's also home to local K-League club FC Seoul. Apparently it's shaped like a turtle - evidentally a legless, headless turtle, but I won't question the architects 'vision'. It hold 64,000 and cost US$151 million. It's not just a football staduim though, oh no, it's much, much more. One could enjoy a day out at the WC Stadium, even if there isn't any football being played.
The pitch itself is on the 3rd floor. The first two floors are home to the 'World Cup Mall', or WCM. The WCM houses a heap of clothes stores and just about every American fastfood/coffee chain, plus an enormous foodhall which deals in local fare. There's also a mega cinema and a wedding hall. That's right, a wedding hall. So if you arrive half an hour before kick-off, you can grab a bite to eat and watch random strangers begin the next chapters of their lives together. Just the way to get pumped up for the big game.
The fact that last week I watched a highlights show of the Korean national teams exploits at WC 2002 does suggest that the fans are eager to remember the good old days when supporting their team these days. It's been 5 years for Christs' sake. Before kick-off against Uruguay I remarked that, as an Australian, I was wary of facing Korea in the up-coming Asian Cup - such is the on-paper quality if the team. After the game, not so much. Still, it's a pretty great stadium.
This weeks 'Pointless Korean Fact' also concerns WC 2002. As I show of gratitude for all his hard work, Korea gave Guus Hiddink an island - thats right, and island. I'm not sure what Australia gave him. I think it was a carton a VB and a firm handshake.
Comments
Mate!
Finally a humourous entry! I'm well pleased and still chuckling...