Do I Emirate It?

Birmingham Promoted!!

Super Kevin Philips

Blues are back where they belong- in the Premier League!! Ultimately they could’ve drawn and still been promoted, but it was still a nervy SIX minutes of stoppage time waiting for the final whistle. Blues had gone ahead thanks to a calmitous piece of goalkeeping from the Reading keeper, with Keith Fahey benefitting. Then Super Kev put us two up with a well taken goal, before Reading went straight down the other end, pulling one back and leaving half an hour of nervy pacing around. But we hung on, and are promoted in second place.

GOALS: Fahey (19), Philips (60), Matejovsky (61)

Congratulations to the Blues!! Bring on the Premier League- we’re back, and I’ll be back (probably) for a lot of the games.

Steve’s Weekend Update

It’s monday morning- two classes today, and a large amount of free time due to exam preparation. So here’s an update from my weekend!

Birmingham One Win Away From The Prem

After Burnley’s 1-0 victory against Sheffield United last night, my team Birmingham City are only one win away from joining Park Ji-Sung and a myriad of other players in the English Premier League.

Next weekend sees us take on Preston North End, with kick off at 5.20pm- 1.20am Korean time. I’ll be watching (unless Sheffield United lose to Swansea earlier in the day- then we’ll be promoted regardless of our result).

Come on Blues!

Enough Of The Baseball- How About The Footie?

I’ve got so caught up in the start of the

A Weekend of Sporting Failures

After Hanshin’s great start on Friday, they ended up losing the following games on Saturday and Sunday, going down 2-1 in their first series to the Yakult Swallows. At the same time that they were playing on saturday, I was in Sangam World Cup Stadium watching… 

South Edges North in Battle of the Peninsula

Eschewing the Gallagher brothers halfway across town, I will instead be attending an event of a more estranged brotherly nature. Yes, not since Country House took on Roll With It in the UK Top 40 has there been a North vs South contest this juicy. On that occasion South was victorious- but will it be this time? . . .

The answer to that self-posed question was yes- South Korea edged out the North with a late late goal to win 1-0 and move atop their World Cup Qualifying Group. In many ways the match…

Nisuwon- Championship Decided As Suwon Won Two-One

Suwon Won Two-One in the second leg of the K-League Championship Finale today to take the title for the first time since 2004!

The game started brightly, with over 40,000 packed into the Big Bird Stadium despite sub-zero temperatures. Suwon took the lead on 11 minutes when Edu, a dead-ringer for French ace Christophe Dugarry, smashed in from the left of the box. FC Seoul had a pen on 25 minutes when the Suwon keeper foolishly brought down FC’s striker, even though he wasn’t going anywhere. Despite pulling back to 1-1, Suwon took the lead again nine minutes before the break with a penalty of their own. Edu’s initial effort was saved, but he pounced on the rebound. 2-1 at half time!

The second half was slightly less exciting as temperatures dropped and both sides failed to create meaningful chances. Edu had a good chance, and the game was broken up by BAD refereeing decisions. After an unbelievable 5 minutes of extra time the ref blew up, and Suwon took the crown!!

The atmosphere was as good as the mid-week draw in Seoul, and it left me in no doubt that I’ve chosen a great team to support!  We even did the crazy “Ob-la-di Ob-la-da” dance/chant again!

Finally, as the 5 minutes of extra time drew to their close, it started snowing- as my colleague Mr.Che said “it was like even the heavens were celebrating Suwon’s victory”. A great result and a great day out!

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You-Tube video of Korea’s all time best player, and now Suwon coach Cha Bum-kun- click on post title at the top to watch the video in full screen

Me and The Grandbleu

Last night I found my footballing home in Korea, with a trip to Sangam (World Cup) Stadium to see FC Seoul take on Suwon. Unlike my previous visit, I was now a Suwon fan thanks to the fickle team-supporting of a co-teacher and the fact one of my Korean friends is from Suwon. I got to experience firsthand the most committed “ultras” in Korea, the Suwon Grandbleu and got interviewed by TV station MBC because I was one of the only foreigners in an away section filled with hardcore fans!

Best of all though were the chants- one to “Yellow Submarine”, and an interactive all-singing all-dancing one to “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da” where whole rows of supporters linked arms and threw their heads back and forth. We drew 1-1 in the first leg of the K-League Championship decider, going down in the first half thanks to incredibly sloppy defending on a set piece, but finalling getting back into the game with 10 minutes to go after sustained pressure. The atmosphere was far more similar to an English football match that anything else I’ve experienced in Asia. Being in the away section obviously made the whole thing a better experience, and their were funny chants (translated thanks to Mr.Che) about FC Seoul being a “fake” team because they only moved to Seoul a few years ago, as well as insults directed at the ref and opposition players, usually uncommon in Asian (well, Japanese and Korean) football.

Best of all was the chant after we’d pulled level- “Nisuwon, Nisuwon, Nisuwon!”

The second-leg decider is on sunday in Suwon.

FC Seoul

Today I popped down to World Cup Stadium- 8 stops or 20 minutes on the subway line 6 from Hyochang Park- to see FC Seoul take on their city rival Namsan.

Namsan were top of the K-League, two points ahead of Seoul in third place. It was a scrappy game, but late in the second half FC Seoul scored a sweet volley into the bottom left hand corner to grab the victory. It was a nice afternoon trip with Mr.Che- 2nd grade English teacher from Baemoon, and his 8-year old daughter.

Incredibly FC Seoul have beaten me to it- their official English slogan really is “Soul of Seoul”