Seoul Soccer

Mike and I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to go to a FC Seoul game with a few soldiers from his post team.  (My sweet husband organized the outing--he's pretty handy to have around in this country.)

The Seoul team is sponsored by Xi--my ah-pah-tu company

I've never been to a professional soccer game in the states, so I didn't have much to compare it with; still, I was fascinated by a few of the noticeable cultural differences.  First, the stadium food:

Always adventurous eaters, we went with the box meal:  fried squid rings, spicy mystery meat, and pickled turnip with rice.  The concession stands also sold corndogs and beer, which Mike's soldiers appreciated.

Next, the cheers.  The crowd was overwhelmingly for the home team (the visitors section is to the far left in the picture below--I guess not too many people made it up from Daegu), and the fans in the "home" section, the end zone to our right (do they call it an end zone in soccer?) were pretty rambunctious.  One of my favorite cheers was a song that the crowd sang to the tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands."  I had no idea what they were saying, but I knew when to clap!  Speaking of clapping, in addition to the soccer-standard vuvuzela horns, the fan club sold fan clappers (pun intended):

They're made of pretty sturdy plastic-paper

And fold up into a fan

The little things make a pretty loud tthhhwaack when they're snapped shut.

Another difference I noticed, and I wish I'd gotten a picture of this--when the action cam zoomed in on someone in the audience (usually a cute girl), instead of waving and cheering like people do in the states, the girls would get embarrassed and duck down or cover their face with their hands.  Too funny!

It was a pretty good game, and my soccer-fan husband said it was pretty good soccer.  FC Seoul was triumphant, making the crowd happy.  This part of the crowd was just happy to be hanging out together: