World cup pever!

It has finally hit - the 2010 World Cup is upon us. Its presence in Korea is pervasive; radio, television, store windows, public transport and individuals are plastered with team memorabilia, often with some interesting English slogans: 'Go to the South Africa!' Korean pop band 수파주니어 (Super Junior) has released an official world cup song called 'Victory Korea' - check it out here. The song features the all-too-familiar catch cry "대한민국" (dae-han-men-guk) which translates to 'Republic of Korea'. Add a blaring horn, some clapping and you've got yourself one very catchy little chant.

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of soccer (yes, I am a New Zealander and I WILL call it soccer despite England's best efforts to convince me it's called football), yet I find myself looking at game schedules, picking teams, predicting scores and even staying up until the wee hours of the morning to watch some of the later games. I've been swept up in Korea's world cup fever, and I have to say I don't mind one bit.

Korea is ranked 48th in the world according to the FIFA world cup seedings. Considering the opening-round victory against Greece (16th) their performance was admirable. Unfortunately they didn't fare quite so well up against 6th seeded Argentina last night, going down 4-1 in Johannesburg. It certainly wasn't for a lack of support - I have watched both Korea games live in Duryu Park with around 100,000 football-mad Koreans and the atmosphere both times has been electric. 

New Zealand's progress so far has been promising, although I'm not expecting great things from our All Whites. To even make it to the World Cup has been a boon, so any additional goals or victories will simply be an added bonus! It is only the second time since 1982 that New Zealand has competed in this competition - at odds of 2000/1 of winning, we're not exactly favourites to take the title!

Still, it's not all about winning - I will continue to sit back with my soju in hand and absorb every little bit of Korean craziness the World Cup has to offer. Gun bae!

The Korean team take a half-time break