Game 4: And that’s a wrap…crap!

While I will NOT miss attending 3am games mid-week in the pouring rain after a night of watching four hours of play by other teams that I support, the thought that I may never again hear “Dae Hamin-Guk” chanted througout the day or have another chance to dawn my red devils jersey and Park-Ji Sung face mask to work nor will I be able to fill a 45 minute lesson teaching middle schoolers numerous world cup songs from around the globe…makes me wish Korea opperated in world cup mode on a regular basis.

Here’s how it went down: Korea’s tie with Nigeria 2:2 put them through to the next round of 16 teams. Fantastic game to watch! I showed up at 3am to the outdoor stadium in Ulsan with my mug of coffee in one hand and noise maker in another. Even if I decided to try and sleep through this early morning game my efforts would have been in vain, with car horns beep-ing out chants and everyone from my school principal to the old woman who sells me salt on the corner out to support Korean national heros. I was home by 6am with just enough time to re-group and head out for work…what a day!

Game four rolled around with a lot on the line for me as an American living in Korea. South Korea was due to play Uruguay in an automatic elimination round while America was taking on Ghana the same weekend. Everything went sour from here. Uruguay led with a 2:1 win over Korea and Ghana hung on in overtime with a 2:1 win over the USA. The majority of Expats in South Korea are American or English so coupling Korea’s and America’s loss with the defeat of England to Germany has put Ulsan in a funk so deep it will take more than a night of norebang and soju to cheer us up.

The world cup lives on and I am certainly still watching, but I have to wonder: What will become of the chants, the masks and the red devils? Enjoy some wrap up photos and a special congratulations to Spain for their win over Portugal!