Korea Japan World Cup 2002 Report
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7 June, 1950 hrs, Busan

Busan was once again buzzing for the France v Uruguay blockbuster. Loads of French supporters, many spoke English, Cantonese, Japanese and Thai, not to mention Korean. France indeed was the Man U of international football.

Saw dodgy Brazilian soccer shirt swapper, same one as the one I saw in Ulsan. Bumped into him also in Haeundae. He wanted to swap crap $5 Ronaldo shirt with my $109.95 Aussie shirt. I said no thanks. Did the same thing outside Busan stadium. At least he's persistent.

This dude in J-League shirt walked up to me and said "bad luck, next time". He's Aussie and from Newtown. Inner city hipsterrrrrrrrr.

Went with these English/Indian dudes to "hof" (pub) and watched Cameroon scoring against Saudis. Tried to use Lonely Planet guidebook to order food. But dang they did not serve meals, only snacks, like the plate of slug looking thing on the table. I took one look and decided the Korean style fried chicken next door looked infinitely better...

(BTW food and mouth disease only affected pork and pretty sure eliminated).

The entire block of seats where I was were occupied by Honks. Almost like watching South China in HK Stadium. No swearing though - I miss the indiscrimate swearing in HK Stadium. Anyway. Zidane missing again. Not good news for French. After 15 min Lebeouf limped off for French. Great news for French. He's next to useless nowadays.

Henry red card - huge gasp in stadium. I thought it's justified. But Dario Silva did exactly the same thing and not even yellow. Eh?

Koreans usually clapped everything but they turned against Dario Silva when TV replayed his "pain" after his "simulation" play. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Match threatened to become boxing match by half time. Uruguay unwisely went back to old tricks and started to swear, tripped and looked for opposition's private parts.

After half time much better. Compelling viewing indeed. France decided to throw Wiltord forward and Recoba had field day especially on the left. His skills were breathtaking.

In the end did not think neither team happy with draw. The Honks around me weren't happy either. They complained that there were no goals and game was not free throwing. Ignorant comment. That was one hell of a match, and to paraphrase Bill Lawry, it's what World Cup was all about. The desperation from both teams were plain to see.

Phew. Today went to Beomeosa Temple for a complete change of pace. Beautiful. Green hills, blue skies, stunning buildings. Many people there worshipping. I again wondered whether they were just praying for Little Kim to go in Uni to do medicine.

Then went to Dongnae for another museum and walked through the markets. Korea really similar to HK in parts. Culture also similar - except Korean man very much the boss in society and at home. Judy explained the dilemma of Korean women. I did not envy her situation.

15 min to England v Argentina. Better go.

CT