South Korea vs. Greece

I come from a place that, with very few exceptions, does not pay very much attention to soccer. Why is this? I don’t know. It seems that the vast majority has spent a long time playing youth soccer; I know I did. Every year my parents signed me up for soccer regardless of how much I complained. My skills never developed beyond that of kicking a ball as hard as I could. Where it went I never was in much control of. During games that seemed to take up way too many early weekend hours I would generally just wail the ball in the general direction of the other goal. I never had any hope that I would ever get a goal, I just more or less wanted to get the ball away from me. I kicked the ball so it would be somebody else’s problem.


My soccer team did pretty well one year despite the fact that I was on the team. We were in the “Shrewsbury Championship” and I single handedly lost that game. The other team had a corner kick that was headed in my general direction. For some stupid reason I felt the sudden and uncharacteristic need to be impressive and tried to hit the ball with my head. I connected and the ball took a funny hop right over our goalie and into the net. It really was a perfect shot and it was my only goal.

Another time I found myself in a one on one shuffle to get possession of the ball. I was young and scared of the ball and I just wanted it to be over. I remember twisting my body and changing the dynamics of the action so now I had more control of the ball and the other player was at my back. Why the next thing happened I don’t know. Maybe it was nerves or maybe it was excitement but the second I got control of the ball and the other player fell into my back and I let fly the loudest fart of my young life. I remember kicking the ball away and looking back at the kid hoping he didn’t notice but there he stood in hysterics. It was the best soccer play of my life.

South Korea DOES care about soccer and it is not their general practice to fart on their opponents. A few days ago South Korea took on Greece in their first matching in the World Cup.

Over the past couple of weeks, Korea has become consumed with World Cup fever. Each day leading up to that game there would be more red shirts on the street and bars seemed to fill with the red devils. When Saturday finally arrive it seemed rightfully so to be the quiet before the storm.

I watched most of the game via live stream in my apartment. The moment the teams took the field the video became completely unnecessary. When South Korea came out all of Korea rumbled. Each attempt on a goal was a crescendo of muffled screaming and pounding. When Korea scored the place simply erupted.

There was panic in the reactions to attempts made by Greece. Often there could be heard sudden shrieks and Korean obscenities coming from the apartments above my own. At one point I opened the sliding door of my terrace and you could hear the commotion on the balcony of the restaurant a block or so away.

At some point later in the game I went for a walk. If the sound of satellite crowds in my apartment was impressive, the sound on the Korean streets was amazing. I walked through back streets that would have been deserted or otherwise populated by drunks; but everywhere a kid ran across the street of families hurried back to whatever TV they were watching. Bars were jammed chock full while other restaurants were dead, the only light coming from the glow of a tiny TV surrounded by waiters and cooks that didn’t mind the slow night.

In a dark side street that brings you to the main drag and then to Downtown individual apartment complexes erupted in rapid succession. Korea took the victory and the red devils poured out restaurants and bars on their way to other bars. Cars drove by wailing on their horns and every which way red light-up headbands flickered in the night.

I spoke with Sun Young on the phone. While she wanted Korea to win she admitted to hoping that Greece would continue on for another round. We spent so little time in those mountains but there will always be a connection she said.

So, I walked home with a bunch of food that I didn’t need surrounded by a sea of red. It reminded me of living in downtown Boston in October 2004.