2018 JB LIFE! Magazine Summer Edition

Sports
World Cup Dreams
A first-hand account of the Korean national soccer team’s
defense against Bosnia in the Jeonju World Cup Stadium.
Words and
Photos by
Yuchang Choi
Can you guess the most popular sport
around the world? It is soccer. I'm sure
many people in Korea, including myself,
love soccer, and you might be someone
who enjoys it too. With World Cup season upon us,
many have become more excited. The national soccer
team of South Korea has qualified for the World Cup
nine times from the 1986 Mexico World Cup to this
year’s 2018 Russia World Cup. This makes Korea the
most qualified team in the World Cup in the Asian
region. One of the main reasons why Koreans love
soccer so much is because of Korea's success in the
2002 World Cup which was held jointly in Korea and
Japan. The South Korean team managed to enter the
semi-final by defeating Italy.
The 2018 Russian World Cup is happening this June
to mid-July. The first Korean game was held on June
18th against Sweden. The second game was against
Mexico on the 24th of June. And the last game was
against Germany which is one of the strongest soccer
teams in the world on June 27th. (And although Korea
lost its first two games, its upset of Germany 2:0 in
the final match of the first round knocked the German
team out of the tournament altogether. It was quite
a dramatic defeat.) Most of the World Cup qualifying
teams play friendly games before going on to the
actual matches. The Korean national team decided
to play matches with Honduras on May 28, Bosnia
on June 1, and Bolivia on June 7 in the World Cup
stadiums of Daegu, Jeonju, and Innsbruck, Austria.
32 Jeonbuk Life Magazine / Summer 2018 • Issue 11