World Cup Stadium

Last Tuesday, Andrew, Kia, Jim and I decided last minute to go to Seoul's World Cup Stadium to watch the Korea national soccer team play Iran. We had a really great time! We took the subway just a few stops to Mapogu and when we got off the subway we took the escalator up and we were right inside of the stadium! It was a really enjoyable night because the humidity cooled down a bit. After wandering around for a little while, trying to figure out where to buy tickets (not many stadium employees spoke English) we finally got in the right line and then got our tickets. The stadium wasn't too packed, so we decided to move down a few rows since most of our section was empty. We were on the bottom level and had a great view of the game. The game was referred to as a "friendly" match since the teams are not in season.

The stadium itself was really nice. It was built in 2001 for the 2002 FIFA World Cup games. It was cool to be there because it was my very first time seeing a stadium that was specifically designed for soccer. Although the crowd wasn't huge, there was tons of Korean pride; everyone was wearing red (Korea's color) and the big Korean beer companies were even giving away free beer! Iran beat Korea 2-1 and when the game was over we got onto a very packed subway train and headed back to campus.

The pictures below are of the opening ceremony before the game, and then a shot of the game-time action!