So Mark acquired 3 tickets for a 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer/football match between North and South Korea. And that means live soccer game. Oh yes. Jessie decided to back out and Lino stepped in, as neither he nor I have ever seen a live game before. Both teams have already secured a place in the next stage, so there was a definite lack of aggression in the game - it was rather laid-back, and although exciting, remained goalless.
This is me in conflicting states. Mind the second, which is horrendously off-kilter and makes me look like a drunk Scotsman. Granted, who doesn't want to be one?
We made our way to the Seoul World Cup Stadium and about 3 stations prior, we encountered our first bit of fandom: The Red Devils. Although they were quite mild, it was obvious the amount of pride a lot of Koreans have in their team. Whether it just be a casual t-shirt, the little red horns with a light-up system, or the quite odd tube-like devices that make loud clapping much more dangerous to the eardrums, there's definitely a fan base. The pictures here are tame and in no way equally representative of the overall mass they represented.
Lino and Mark on the way up.
There were quite a lot of foreigners as well (practically our entire N-J row was made up of us), with a good number carrying or wearing flags. The stadium was huge and amazingly easy to navigate, as well as having a good portion of police force - I'm assuming due to the political nature of the match (who, funnily enough, all went to the bathroom at the exact same time as everyone else; which is to say halftime). Also, there was an ATM on wheels - pretty nifty.
Myself, complete with the latest haircut (I just keep going shorter and shorter, so I've decided to just shave it all when I get back stateside...see what happens) and remnants of chickenpox (frackin' kids not washing their hands, and frackin' parents not letting their kids stay home when they're obviously not fit for school). I now have two dime-size permanent pockmarks that are still trying to revert to natural skin color, as well as multiple little guys trying to catch up. So really it's just terrible picture, part deux and should likewise be avoided. Also: the pitch, the Unified Korean flag, and the opening ceremony / line-up.
Onwards to the videos. This one is about 1/2 an hour before the kick-off, getting a panoramic view. It seems empty now, but 30 minutes later it was relatively packed. At least by my standards - my entire hometown of Mt. Shasta, plus the neighboring towns of Weed, Dunsmuir and McCloud were more than accounted for. The regular stadium capacity is 66,806 people, so I'd reckon at least 15-20,000 people were present. Granted, the whole scope of it was hard for me to really grasp, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were more.
The on-screen player introductions for North Korea. Not all the players, but surprisingly some of them got quite a few cheers out of the Southern crowd.
On-screen player introduction for South Korea. Park Ji-Sung was out due to injury (damn it!), but apparently Kim Namil is quite popular as well.
The beginning of the Opening Ceremony. I'm not sure who/what the yellow-costumed folks are supposed to be, but they came out to one of the popular South Korean chants. Dae han min guk!
Note: the other super-popular chant was "Dae han min guk, Dae han min guk, Dae han min guk, Ko-re-aaaa!" to the tune of Ode to Joy. Not kidding. They love the classical age, even if the kids don't know it - every time something surprising/shocking happens they go "da-da-daaaa" as in the opening of Toccata & Fugue. And right after I always follow with "Dadadadada-daaaaaa" (the next bit), I just receive blank stares. They think they know their stuff, but really...
Out come the players. Both sides received lots of applause. To my left was Lino and to my right Mark; who I for-some-reason avoided and just focused on the big, shiny screen behind his head - still, you can see his foofy hair. Pardon the groupie-like aural emanations.
The North Korean National Anthem. It's only a snippet, but mostly I was just surprised at the respect the Southerners showed by not only standing, but applauding as well. The hot spots of the stadium were well-taken, but with a surprising number of absences all around. As both teams were already assured a spot in the next round of qualifying, the game felt very much like a friendly. Mark said the game versus Jordan was packed.
Some gameplay here. Sadly not a whole lot of action happened throughout the match. There were a few good opportunities, particularly (and somewhat surprisingly) from the North side, but overall the 0-0 finish was somewhat disappointing. Still, the gameplay was good, the excitement high, and the overall attitude fantastic.
If there were one thing to critique it would be the shocking amount of booing that the South fans seemed to churn out every time the North had the ball, particularly during the first half. After the good and fair attitude the crowd had displayed for the national anthem and the player roster, the booing was both degrading and rather embarrassing for the fans, I would say. It's like they had seen booing in matches on TV, but didn't quite know how to pull it off without being totally offensive and unsportsmanlike.
And lastly, during halftime a mini-wave started up...
Which just kept going and going. All in all it made it around the stadium about 4 times. Not bad.
So that's it. It was a great time, and asides from the unprecedented booing and the goalless ending, it was an awesome experience. And cheap - only 20,000 Won (like 20 bucks). And with beer. I look forward to going to more.
Take care, everybody!
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