South Korea vs Togo 2-1

Till Abolo was sent off in the 53rd minute, Togo competed well versus South Korea. They had even scored one courtesy Mohammed Kader in the first half. It looked like Togo might sneak a famous victory. Then, there was the red card. Moments later, South Korea equalled via Chun-Soo Lee. From there, South Korea dominated. Togo looked tired and slow in the second half regardless of the 10 men factor. The South Koreans weren’t impressive in the match though. There were many shots way off target and the team could very well struggle against Switzerland.

Switzerland vs France 0-0

The goal jinx for France continues. They had several chances but failed to score. Even Switzerland had chances and they could have easily won with a little luck. For France, the big question is - are they missing Cisse? I failed to understand why Giully should not be in the French squad having seen him closely over the last two years. France shouldn’t have problems qualifying for round 2 but you never know!

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I caught up with Steve Han for part 4 of the series. Steve was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea and has been a fan of Korean football ever since he was a little boy. Currently, he lives in the states for education and is a college student in Beverly Hills, California. I thank Steve for agreeing to this interview.

Tell us a bit about Korea’s football history and the football culture which exists.

Football first started in Korea when British sailors who happened to visit Korea in 1882 left a ball at Jemulpo harbour. However, modern football was introduced couple decades after that incident and right now, there is a professional domestic league called the “K-League” which started in 1983. Although not as popular as national team football, there are 14 teamscompeting on a very competitive level of football.

There is also a league called the “Korean National League(N-League)” which is a second division below the K-League. N-League is a semi-professional league which consists of 11 teams and the promotion/relegation system between the K-League and N-League has yet to be formed although part of the plan is to promote the champions of this N-League season to the K-League. The plan is to continue to promote teams from the N-League without any relegations from the K-League until K-League has 16 or 18 teams in the league.

After that, they’re planning to start the proper promotion/relegation system. As for popularity of domestic football in Korea, K-League have been averaging a little over 10,000 per match in the past with N-League attendance figures being much less than that due to the fact that most N-League matches were being played during weekdays. For this season, however, most games will be played during weekends and they expect the attendance figure to increase.

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