Full Transcript of Podcast

Daniel: Hello, my name is Daniel LaFontaine. This is KBC's 9.9 with Daniel. Today we are connected all over the world with Dave Woods in Dallas, Rich is in Seoul, Stephane is in France and William is also in Seoul. I am, as you all know, am in Ulsan, Korea.

Today, we're talking about Korea and the World Cup; the World Cup in general, and Korea's position in it. First off, Korea has had a pretty good, interesting run. Myself, I always think about 2002 when I first came here. It was the first real World Cup I ever saw because in Canada, we don't care about the World Cup. We don't have a team. We don't care about it. Our World Cup is hockey.

But in 2002, Korea was really pretty interesting because of the fact that there are so many different things that happened; the intensity of the crowd, the intensity of everyone in the whole country was off the wall.

What do you think about it now? What do you think, William, about that? What do you think, everybody? What do you think today? Did the World Cup meet your expectations? What do you think about Korea and the World Cup? Anybody have an initial thought?

Stephane: Well, first, I think the current team played very well this year because you have a lot of players who play in Europe and they gave good information for the rest of the team.

Daniel: Very good. And what about you, Rich? What do you think?

Rich: I think the team did a great job. I was always amazed at the way they controlled the ball for at least the game against Greece and Nigeria. Of course, the game against Argentina, the ball control went the other way. But they definitely seemed to dominate the time of possession.

Daniel: Very good. Yes, that's true. Against Nigeria, they were... The Nigerians had a little bit too much individual skill for the Koreans. But in terms of teamwork, you're right. The games against the Greeks and the Nigerians, even Uruguay. The Uruguay game was pretty impressive. They controlled the ball pretty good against Uruguay. What about you, Dave? What do you think?

Dave: I think South Korea did pretty well for themselves. It is a country with 40 million people, but unlike Uruguay and Brazil, they've got an entire continent that's all wrapped up in it. Korea is kind of on its own at a Chinese and a North Korean scene. But I think for 40 million people and where they come from, Korea could hold their head high.

Daniel: Very good. I think Korea, this time around, compared to 2002, this year, they had 13 players on the team. In 2002, when I was here, it was a shockingly… It was like 45 million people were playing because everybody was watching. All the big screens came out. Everybody came out. It was one massive party every freaking game. It was truly amazing for me because I thought the Greek game -- I saw the Turkish/Brazilian game in Ulsan Stadium. It was really an impressive game.

But the Koreans were really shockingly successful in 2002; whereas the 2006 year, I thought Korea, well yeah, you made it to round 16. But I expect to round 16 out of Korea. 50 million people, you've got to at least be able to make it to round 16. So I didn't think Korea did all that hot this year, although the division was a little bit tougher. What about you, William, what do you think?

William: Well, team-wise, I agree that the defense was much stronger than the offense even though there were some great trackers on there. Mid-field I thought was weak. But the goalie did really, really well. Unfortunately, he had many opportunities to practice.

As far as the fever, I got caught up in the World Cup fever. Unlike back in the States where soccer is not really noted like it is here. I was amongst the 100,000 standing in the streets in the rain drinking soju, and screaming, and hollering. It was really a great experience on my part.

Daniel: Yeah, you were around 100,000 people. My first experience was I had about five people with me and a street of [not sure] back just south by the city of Ulsan. We were on the side of the road. We had our little TV set on the side of the road.

When the Koreans scored against the Italians in 88 minutes, there was a massive party at the local elementary school and you heard it. It was at least a mile away, and you heard them screaming because it was such a great win for Korea at that moment.

William: Yeah. When I follow up with it, and I'm also really proud. The Koreans have kept up that same fervency even when the team came home after a loss. They really have pulled together the nation through thick and thin. I was really proud to see how many people stood up when they got home. That was nice.

Daniel: I think so, too. Rich, what about you? How do you think about the World Cup in general this year in South Africa?

Rich: Well, as I said, I think they did a good job, especially on the ball control. The thing I'm curious about after the 2002 and after 2006, Korea goes nuts for the World Cup, but then when they've got their own home league going, the stadiums are empty.

Daniel: That's true.

Rich: I'm curious if they can, this time around, translate all that excitement about the World Cup into a more viable league.

Daniel: I don't think so. We can get everybody's opinion on this, but I don't think it's going to happen because Koreans really like the best players. Some of the best players like Park Ji-Sung, he's in Europe. He's playing at Manchester United.

I do know some Koreans who follow the European leagues now. But other than that, I don't think it's transferable to the Korean league. The Korean league, to most Koreans, is just not interesting. There's no big names, there's no big players. You get 5,000 -- 10,000 people per game and that's about it.

What do you think, Dave? Do you think it's going to be transferable to this? Actually, you're in Dallas so it might be hard for you. But what do you think?

Dave: Well, I think actually we've got the same problems here in the States with Americans getting all involved. There's so many other distractions that we've had over the years with other sports that soccer's never even… We've had some big players here. Soccer has never really taken off, unfortunately.

That may be the same deal in Korea. We see such a wonderful World Cup every four years, and then to take from that and go to our local stadiums and watch Americans play, it's just a different game. It's not nearly as entertaining or as much fun. And for that reason, it just may not take off.

Daniel: That's an excellent viewpoint. That's an excellent point of view that you showed. America, like Canada, like Korea, there's a lot of different things out there to entertain us. Like here in Korea, people actually study from 9:00 or 7:00 in the morning until 11:00 at night and they don't have time to go play or to entertain themselves.

In America, there's huge amounts of entertainment dollars from all over from many different areas, from basketball, and football, and baseball. Even sometimes, some Americans even like hockey sometimes. But soccer is not much.

What about you, Stephane? The French team this year didn't do so hot. Can you explain to us what happened there?

Stephane: Okay. I can explain. In the team, you have some player, you have a very good player, but they're very arrogant. If you pay them a lot of money and you're a very good player, you love humility.

And you have some players, they were against another player and it could not achieve, don't want play for the countries that don't respect each other. There's very individualism] and it was a bit shocking France because the supporters, the [not sure] that France wins and they saw a big scandal so that the team was not ready to play together.

Daniel: Actually, not only France had that problem this year. The Germans really destroyed the English team because the English weren't just playing… They're not a team. The idea of working as a team, the idea of using individuality to support the team didn't happen. That's why Uruguay has gone through, Germany is very strong because there's more of a team spirit. I guess people tend to forget team is where it's at.

What about you, William? What do you think about this World Cup? Do you think it's a very good lesson to learn; this team needs to be thought of, it needs to be worked on? What do you think?

William: Well, I agree with you. Yeah, I agree 100%. We've also seen some very interesting un-sportsmanlike conduct, not only from team players but from coaches. Last night, the game with Argentina, the coach turned into a total ass against some German fans, I was reading.

So this sportsmanship, we need to rethink it. People need to reconsider their humility. As Stephane's put it, I agree with that 100%. And I really think, in my opinion, that last four that Germany has really shown the most grace, and that's who I'm choosing for my World Cup.

Daniel: Very good. Our time is up. This is Daniel, KBC's 9.9 with Daniel. Have a good night and I hope to hear you next time.