PFF Goes East - EAFF Cup 2013

As some would know the Punctual Football Fan was in Korea (you should know by now ha-ha!) to watch the East Asian Football Federation Cup 2013 which was held in Seoul and one in Hwaseong. This match against the Republic of Korea was held at the 2002 Seoul World Cup Stadium (Yes, it really is called that).

Getting to the ground wasn't too hard as it is very conveniently located on the Seoul Metro line 6 with a dedicated station. The Station is very good and very open and was working well to move fans easily to and from the ground.

Although I was running to try and get in to sing the national anthem I dropped my camera on the zoom switch and it is a bit stiff and stuck at times. The stadium while very nice sight to behold is absolutely terrible to go to any block around the ground. I was told in the past this was to keep potential football hooligans separated and unable to interact with other large masses of people. While very good in theory in practise however you get trapped in pockets of access and staff are incredibly rigid and unable to comprehend that the Australian supporters want to group together in an away bay of sorts. This frustration lead to me missing out to sing the anthem.

Despite that drawback which is rather considerable given that it is at every ground in Korea as I was finding out the food and drinks were what I am writing this blog about!

They have hot-dogs for 3 dollars, you also have sausages on a skewer cooked and a dagwood-dog style sausage deep-fried and on a skewer. Three of your choice was and now wait for it; three dollars for three. The drawback was you could only order maximum of three at a time so once you bought them and ate them that was it you had to wait at the back of the line. This wouldn't be a problem for non Korean matches but I wasn't going to wait 15 minutes for some tasty hot-dogs and sausages.

Beer was cheep too but be warned as the (I have an RSA so this is hilariously contradictory) beer warms up VERY fast as it is very much in the style of an American beer so if you aren't a fan then you might be in trouble. Beers sold were CASS, D and D-Lite but they were all very cheap at 2,000 Korean won so that is about 2 dollars for a big plastic US style cup of it.

The game was very very forgettable as Australia had 2 shots on goal and virtually bunkered down for the match. Korea should have walked away 4-0 winners but a draw was decent for a side that was hopelessly out-gunned in this competition it was being said during the game.

No problem here with food and drink but the wait and the manner of how local beers are made here were the only draw-backs.