World Cup Fever
For those that didn't know, it is the World Cup season, which is one of the biggest events here in Korea. It is time for all the Koreans to wear the color red to support their soccer team. When I was younger, I played soccer for 3 years because my mom enrolled me in it. I wanted to play American football, but my mom said that it was too dangerous, so she put me in soccer instead. I did have fun, but I never got into the sport. Eventually, I was able to convince my mom to play American football, which I played all through high school. I promised my mom that I will not get hurt, but that wasn't the case. To name a few I ended up breaking 4 fingers, sprained my knee, sprained my ankle, chipped a bone on my cheek bone, had an concussion, but the worst was breaking a bone in my wrist that I had to get surgery on. The bone never healed right, so it ended up dieing, so I had to get a bone graft to repair it. I had to wear a cast for 10 months, which really sucked, but I had to deal with it.
In America, soccer is not a sport that a lot of people follow, but when it's time for Super Bowl, then everybody watches it, which was my case. Every year, I always looked forward to watching the Super bowl. Here in Korea, soccer is one of the biggest sports event that is supported next to baseball. World Cup comes every 4 years, so the wait is finally over.
During the 2002 World Cup, Korea was NOT one of the teams to be on top, but they ended up winning one game after another, so everybody were surprised. I remember my mom calling me 3 in the morning waking me up to ask me, if I was watching the soccer game. Keep in mind that my mom does not watch TV that much, especially sports, but she got hooked on it. The next day she would call me to tell me what the score was and tell me how good the game was. I thought she was crazy, but she wasn't the only one that did that. Korea ended up getting 4th place that year, so it's revenge time this year.
Everywhere you go and everywhere you turn, people were selling red shirts, bandanas, face paint, and a lot of other things to support their team. Last Tuesday was the first game for Korea. They played Togo, and they were the favorite against Korea, since they were the newcomers to the World Cup and nobody knew their playing style. That day was when the red attire came out. If you weren't wearing red, then they would look at you funny. Everybody and I mean everybody were wearing something red. The game started at 10pm, so by about 5pm everybody were on their way to City Hall to watch the game. At the City Hall, they have a huge TV mounted on the top of the building, so they sit on the ground to watch the game. They close off the streets, and they bring in the riot police to control the crowd. Thousands and Thousands of people go their to watch the game. Even the buses and subways were extended until 2am from their normal time of midnight to take them back home.
I've never seen so many people dressed in red before in my life. Talk about support! Some people had their whole face painted in red with the Korean flag painted on their cheeks. Most of them had red shirts and hats, but some of them wore the Korean flag as a cape. Then there were some girls that cut the sides of their shirts horizontally for the sexy look. It was an amazing site.
I went to this bar to meet some friends to watch the game, but all the tables were already taken, so I decided to just come home and watch it with the people in my apartment building. What a game! By halftime the score was Togo 1 and Korea 0. About 15 minutes into the 2nd half we were losing hope and we were all pretty quiet. I went to the bathroom, then all of a sudden I heard this huge scream, which scared the crap out of me (not literally). The scream was so LOUD! I rushed back into the room and saw that Korea had just scored. Now it was a tie game, so we got our hopes back, but time was running out quickly. Then, Korea scored again! I couldn't believe it, Korea is winning, then the game was over, Korea WON!
There were about 10 people in the room, which the men were smiling ear to ear and the women were crying. Wow, I never thought that I would get excited over a soccer game, but I couldn't help it. I don’t remember getting this excited watching the Super bowl. I guess I found a new sport to watch. I can't wait until the next game even though it will be at 4 in the morning. I guess I have to wake up early.
Here are some pictures that I found from another blog. His blog is called Seouliva and he was actually at the city hall.
One of the fans from the 2002 World Cup. Is she taken? If so, does she have a sister? LOL
In America, soccer is not a sport that a lot of people follow, but when it's time for Super Bowl, then everybody watches it, which was my case. Every year, I always looked forward to watching the Super bowl. Here in Korea, soccer is one of the biggest sports event that is supported next to baseball. World Cup comes every 4 years, so the wait is finally over.
During the 2002 World Cup, Korea was NOT one of the teams to be on top, but they ended up winning one game after another, so everybody were surprised. I remember my mom calling me 3 in the morning waking me up to ask me, if I was watching the soccer game. Keep in mind that my mom does not watch TV that much, especially sports, but she got hooked on it. The next day she would call me to tell me what the score was and tell me how good the game was. I thought she was crazy, but she wasn't the only one that did that. Korea ended up getting 4th place that year, so it's revenge time this year.
Everywhere you go and everywhere you turn, people were selling red shirts, bandanas, face paint, and a lot of other things to support their team. Last Tuesday was the first game for Korea. They played Togo, and they were the favorite against Korea, since they were the newcomers to the World Cup and nobody knew their playing style. That day was when the red attire came out. If you weren't wearing red, then they would look at you funny. Everybody and I mean everybody were wearing something red. The game started at 10pm, so by about 5pm everybody were on their way to City Hall to watch the game. At the City Hall, they have a huge TV mounted on the top of the building, so they sit on the ground to watch the game. They close off the streets, and they bring in the riot police to control the crowd. Thousands and Thousands of people go their to watch the game. Even the buses and subways were extended until 2am from their normal time of midnight to take them back home.
I've never seen so many people dressed in red before in my life. Talk about support! Some people had their whole face painted in red with the Korean flag painted on their cheeks. Most of them had red shirts and hats, but some of them wore the Korean flag as a cape. Then there were some girls that cut the sides of their shirts horizontally for the sexy look. It was an amazing site.
I went to this bar to meet some friends to watch the game, but all the tables were already taken, so I decided to just come home and watch it with the people in my apartment building. What a game! By halftime the score was Togo 1 and Korea 0. About 15 minutes into the 2nd half we were losing hope and we were all pretty quiet. I went to the bathroom, then all of a sudden I heard this huge scream, which scared the crap out of me (not literally). The scream was so LOUD! I rushed back into the room and saw that Korea had just scored. Now it was a tie game, so we got our hopes back, but time was running out quickly. Then, Korea scored again! I couldn't believe it, Korea is winning, then the game was over, Korea WON!
There were about 10 people in the room, which the men were smiling ear to ear and the women were crying. Wow, I never thought that I would get excited over a soccer game, but I couldn't help it. I don’t remember getting this excited watching the Super bowl. I guess I found a new sport to watch. I can't wait until the next game even though it will be at 4 in the morning. I guess I have to wake up early.
Here are some pictures that I found from another blog. His blog is called Seouliva and he was actually at the city hall.
One of the fans from the 2002 World Cup. Is she taken? If so, does she have a sister? LOL
posted by Seoul Tiger at 1:33 AM
1 Comments:
I listened to the game on the radio at work that day. Couldn't follow the whole game but I knew Korea won when my korean co-workers were screaming and cheering. I was in Korea in 1998 World Cup. Stayed with grandma and she was yelling at the people who were cheering for the game at 4 in the morning because they were keeping her up. I don't think grandma quite shared everyone's enthusiasm. Have fun!
Michelle
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