Wednesday, July 25, 2007

South Korea V Iraq - AFC Cup Semis 1

I suddenly felt like I wanted to go watch a Football match, and what more, a AFC Cup Semi Final between South Korea and Iraq. It wasn't planned or anything like that, but I guessed its not one of those matches where the tickets get sold out or something like that. I went during lunch time to get my tickets and this was what I saw. Luckilly they were open , ahahaha.

Furthermore it was between 2 very good teams, South Korea (favourites) and Iraq ( who did well to reach the semi finals , definitely my dark horse for this tournament). And the plus point is that, is was held at Bukit Jalil, a world class stadium, that leaks ( yups bocor wan).


It started raining at about 5pm. By 6 the stadium was already wet. Luckilly this magnificent stadium, has full covers for spectators.

A shot of where all the fans congregated for this match






Listen to the chants of the two sets of fans, separated by one fence only


Moving on I managed to mingle with both sets of fans and I took some videos to show for it. In a nutshell I find the Iraqi fans the friendlier of the lot. Partly also because they are mostly young and single men who just loves their national football team.



Mingling in Korean Side




Mingling in Iraqi Side


The Korean fans were great too, but not as friendly. They made a lot of noise, chants, and sang throughout the entire football match. The atmosphere was incredible, really nice. The Iraqi's were just as boisterous, applauding and cheering their national team on , throughout the match.

I only hope that Malaysia could learn two things from this AFC CUP Tournament.

1) How our Asian neighbours play football.
2) How their fans support their national team.


Some really friendly Iraqi Fans
Never too young to watch football, eh
A see of RED , magnificent chanting and singing all night long
Fans waving their nation's flag

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