A-Team and an A-Game

Tonight I went to see The A-Team at Wangsimni CGV. The A-Team was always a favorite TV show as a kid but I didn't have very high expectations going into the movie, since these sort of films are generally of terrible quality. But, they pulled the movie together fabulosly. I felt like I was back in middle school watching re-runs on cable again. It was action-packed and hilarious, in just the combination the show always provided. The new members of the A-Team meshed so well I thought I was watching the original cast at times. Though, it's a shame Mr. T couldn't have played B.A. I guess he's getting old now though. I highly recomend seeing this movie, especially if you were a fan of the show when you were younger.


Now, tomorrow night is the big game: Korea vs. Uruguay. South Korea made it through to the round of 16 in the World Cup. Game is on at 11, and you better believe I'll be wearing my red shirt I finally bought in the subway on Wednesday (a little late, I know) watching the game out somewhere, probably at a bar for my friend's going away party.

And you know what else? If Korea can beat Uruguay and if the USA can pull through to the next match, guess who will face each other? Yup, that's right, USA vs Korea. Now, who to cheer for is the question. One friend suggested wearing no shirt, but If I could somehow get two flags onto one shirt I think that would be ideal. Or, carry two flags, so I could wave either at the appropriate moments. Well, we'll face that problem if and when we get there. :-)

Korea vs. Greece at City Hall Plaza

Saturday evening was the first match for South Korea in the World Cup. Competing in group B, their first opponent was Greece. Excitement over this match over the past week or so has been mounting and by Friday it was the sole topic of conversation among most people, Korean or otherwise. "Where are you watching the game?" was the main question everyone was asking. Several large venues around town held viewing areas to watch the game. The main area was at City Hall Plaza, but there were also large gatherings in Olympic Park and World Cup stadium. Many bars around the city offered free drinks or prizes for guests whenever Korea scored a goal, so finding a good bar also sounded like a good choice.

When Saturday morning came around, the skies opened and the rain poured like I haven't seen it rain in a long time. I was starting to feel as though watching outside wasn't going to be such a good idea, but by the time I'd finished dinner the rain had more or less slowed down and we figured, why not, let's go to City Hall... what fun is it if you're not in the middle of the action, right?The picture above is basically what it looked like when we got to city hall. We made our way in a little ways and watched a little of the preshow before the game started.


Watching soccer, or any sport in Korea is always interesting. There are lots of cheers and people basically spend the entire length of the game shouting cheers. You wouldn't believe what the crowd sounds like when there's actually a goal. Jumping, screaming, clapping, horns blaring, fireworks popping overhead, it's a wild scene. Despite the rain, which came down for most of the game to varying degrees couldn't deter this crowd, the crowd had expanded out into the street when we finally made our way out.


In the end, Korea won, 2:0 to Greece, the first win of the World Cup. The victory dances were everywhere.
Congo lines on the green at City Hall Plaza.


Chanting and cheering around a guy wearing a Greece shirt in the middle of this circle. If he actually was a Greek, or Greek fan, he was taking his loss quite well.

Victory rally in front of Doksugung across the street.

The next Korea game is against Argentina on Thursday at 8:30. I don't finish work until 9:00, so I'll have to figure out how I'm going to watch. But, anyway, as fun as this was, I don't think I can take those crowds again for a while. I'll be content to sit in a bar or my own home and watch the next one.

World Cup Opening Ceremony and Mexico vs. South Africa

Last night was the opening game of the World Cup. We had wanted to go to a fun bar to watch the game. What actually ended up happening was going to a chicken HOF near Hanyangdae (where my friends ate nearly all the chicken before I showed up .... grrr... jk) and watched some of the opening ceremony. They had plenty of artists from all over, including the Black Eyed Peas, Juanes and Alicia Keys performing, not to mention plenty of other folks I didn't recognize. After a while, or maybe after I complained about not getting any food, we decided to go to the ddukbokki place downstairs to get some yummy food. But, much to our surprise, they were shutting down.. at 10:30. I guess they wanted to go to a bar and watch the game too... So after walking around the Hanyangdae area for a while without finding anyplace with decent food, we just decided to go home.

Fortunately, some friends of ours who thought they would be unable to hang out with us last night had a change of plans and decided to come by our place with a big plate of 회 or Korean style raw fish. So, 회 + 만두+ homemade beer + Mexico vs. South Africa wound up being a good time even at home. Not to mention the rain that started to fall cooled down my apartment immensely... I didn't have to turn on my air conditioner, which was also a nice surprise.


Now tonight, we'll see what happens with the weather, but I'd like to go to Gwanghwamun/ City Hall to be in the middle of the action for the big game: Korea vs. Greece. If I do something interesting, expect a blog soon!

FC Seoul vs Jejudo

Sunday I ventured out to World Cup Stadium to see FC Seoul vs. Jejudo. It was actually my second soccer match in Korea, but I forgot my camera when I went to my first game last year, so I never blogged about it.

Last time we sat on the sides, but this time we sat behind the goal in the FC Seoul fan's area. Here there's not much of a chance to sit down. There are some song leaders that keep everyone on their feet singing, chanting, clapping and basically going wild.


Before the game, everyone was asked to hold their fans up and show the Korean flag. I wish I knew where they got those fan thingies though...

Anyway, the game was great... at least for FC Seoul. 5-1 win against Jejudo. They never really had much of a chance, FC Seoul simply dominated the field most of the game. I was actually impressed that they scored at all.

This was great game for me to prepare for the World cup, which starts on Friday! For all you people who are clueless about the World Cup, it's a soccer tournament held every 4 years. This year it's being held in Johannesburg, South Africa and it's looking like it's going to be a great few weeks of soccer watching. All the teams I care about (aka all the countries I have some emotion for... I know nothing about soccer skills) are all playing; South Korea, USA and Chile. In an interesting note, North Korea is also playing and I'm excited to watch their games... mostly because it's North Korea... but unfortunately, they're grouped with Brazil and Portugal and they don't stand a chance to make it to the second round.

Korea's first game is Saturday night, so be prepared for craziness around the city. I may be going to Gwanghwamun where the biggest gathering of fans should be. I don't really expect to see much of the game around there, but it should be a fun time just being with a bunch of crazy fans! Evidently, at World Cup stadium, they're offering camping supplies to anyone who wants to camp out there for the night. Personally, I'm not sure how I feel about camping out on concrete for the heck of it, but who knows, I find out that something really exciting is going on there, maybe I'll go there instead!

World Cup: North Korea blunder gives it a built-in excuse for failure

I'll never understand North Korea.....

World Cup: North Korea blunder gives it a built-in excuse for failure

What would you do if....

I just read this article from the New York Times discussing the coach selection for the North Korean soccer team getting ready for 2010 World Cup in South Africa. I was surprised yesterday when a friend of mine who's really into soccer told me, not only did South Korea make it into the finals, but so did North Korea, for the first time since 1966.

North Korea has approached Phillipe Troussier, a French coach who coached Japan in the 2002 World cup, not to mention many other teams around the world.

Now, this is the question. What would you do if North Korea asked you to be their soccer coach? North Korea, the rouge nation who's plane was just searched in Thailand and was found to be carrying illicit weapons that they suspect were to be delivered to other rouge nations almost certainly for some sort of nefarious business. Who is under many sanctions by the UN for it's missile testing. Who has some of the worst human rights records in the world. Would it be wrong to accept the job?

There is an upside to this job, though. Well, besides the money, which I'm sure would be good. Not to mention the opportunity to coach a World Cup soccer team. But that's not what would be first on my list (probably because I am not a soccer coach). Can you imagine being able to get into North Korea and have a somewhat real experience with real North Koreans? Granted, he'd probably never see the other side of North Korea... the starvation, the prisons, the average people on the street. But, no one gets to see that.

If I were offered this job, I don't think I could turn it down for that reason only. Sure, some people may criticize me for accepting to work for one of the most "evil" countries (quoth Bush) on the planet. But how many people have gotten inside for real?? And I don't think Bill Clinton counts...