Pan Asia

Football!!! Yes, why don't' I write about football? I was a top scorer when I was in high school playing for my Western Room and we won the champion twice. Football used to be a "half" of my life. I played it since I was 7 years and I played everyday for 3-4 hours. Football is the sport I spent a lot of my time during my youth. I just stopped playing this game when I graduated from high school: no field, no friend.

The 2006 World Cup has been going on for a week and, so far, no surprise. The great teams, Brazil, Argentina, England, Germany, Portugal and Spain played very well. Italy is, always like this, struggling; while French has lost their power since they won the cup in their home; and the Netherlands... so

far has been good but I didn't watch their game. Generally speaking: no surprise!

Football is a "religion" for many people. We love it, we live with it, and we feel it. Football, like religion, draws a kind of solidarity and belonging. It is interesting when Saudi Arabia survived its first match, a friend sent me a message opened with religious words, "Allahu akbar!" (Allah is the Greatest) Oh man... I said, "You know what, Tunisia (the team Saudi played with that day) is also a Muslim country. So why don't we cheer for Tunisia too?" and he said, "Yes, but Saudi is a Muslim and Asian one". Cool, another reason just to take a side.

I think, my friend was right because that was I felt when I watch the match of the day, between Korea and France: a pan Asian feeling. It doesn't really matter that French has a better record because football is not about a record, it is a (and the) game!

Today, Prof. Clark Lombardi, an Italian-American, invited Hendro and me to watch the match together. Usually, we can go to IMA (the university's sport center) or to Cafe Eleven-10 in the university's dorm. But we found those places closed today. So we try to find any other place we were able to watch the game. I remember a posting in the SeattleDutch Mailing-list said people meet in the Irish Pub; and we decided to go there.

Yes. And there we find so many Koreans, with their national red-color for sure, filled the cafe (look at the picture). They sung, danced, and cheered their national team, "Hoo... hoo... hoo... this is kuria; tehan minggo!" That was really really chearing; as if they had been in the stadium! And when Koreans made a goal, the people were really going crazy, like a quake hit the pub!

Yes... Salute for them! The Korean team is really tough! Even though they are always led in the beginning of a match, they keep strugling, and survive the game: won the first match and earned a draw in the second!

Koreans has been the best team in Asia since they advanced to the quarter final in 2002 World Cup. For the Asian nations, at least, we can show to the world that Asians do not only come to be defeated. The Korean team is on the top group today, leading France with two points. These people in the pub deserved to be proud of their national time.