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Showing posts with the label South Korea

Which player has impressed me the most in the Premier League this season

  My stand out player to date in my view has been James Rodriguez of Everton FC.  He has taken to the Premier League "like a duck to water". The 29-year-old Columbia attacking midfielder was signed in the offseason from Spanish giants Real Madrid for a fee believed to be around 20 million pounds.  He signed on a two-year contract for the Toffees. In the opening four games of the season James has scored three goals and assisted two and in general, has been at the hub of everything that Everton have done well in the attacking third of the pitch.  A huge factor getting James to the Premier League was the fact that his old manager who he played under at Real Madrid is the current Everton gaffer.  Italian Carlo Ancelotti is the man in question that attracted the flamboyant winger to the Premier League.  They had a very good relationship at Real Madrid and they wanted to rekindle that at Everton. James has formed a frightening partnership with Everton duo Rich...

Watching a live game of football during the COVID 19 pandemic

On the 16th of August my two sons Jacob and Jack and I  attended a home game between Gyeongnam FC and Chungnam Asan in the Korean Professional football league.  The number of COVID 19 cases was in double digits so the league was allowing 30 percent of the stadiums'  capacity to be allocated by supporters. Firstly, you couldn't buy tickets on the day, you had to purchase the tickets online through a specific website.  Once you had bought the tickets, the website will send you a link to be scanned by Gyeongnam ticket officers on the day of the game.  The tickets we selected had to be spread out evenly, with each person sitting three seats apart from one another, due to social distancing measures.  My sons and I decided on sitting in a triangle shape.  To the day itself of the game.  There were strict measures of just getting to the stadium in passing certain government protocols .  First of all, there was a temperature check (yo...

My love for Gyeongnam FC

I came to South Korea in 2003 to teach English in a language academy in Masan.  Masan is located in Gyeongnam, the team who I was to start supporting.  They didn't even have a professional team when I first landed on Korean shores.  They were formed in 2006.  They used to play their home games in the Changwon Civil Stadium which was surrounded by an athletic track , so you were so far away from the action on the pitch.  I love attending live sports, especially football.  This was a great way to let off some steam with some good friends and watch a game of live football from the mundane week of teaching.  In 2010 Gyeongnam moved to play in a more modern stadium (Changwon Football Center) at the base of a mountain about a ten-minute drive away.  The stadium itself is supported by four full-sized training pitches and a 4G turf training ground covered by a roof.   Changwon Civic Stadium Changwon Football Center Through going to t...

Football slowly returning to normality during COVID-19. How the K League got it all started.

After months of uncertainty, football all over the world is slowly returning to some sense of normality.   The K League in South Korea was one of the first major leagues to start on May 8th.  Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Suwon Samsung Bluewings kicked things off and the game was screened all over the world in over twenty countries worldwide.  It was the first time in the league's history a professional game was shown on the British Broadcasting Co-operation (BBC) with English commentary.  It was viewed by over 3.5 million people on a live twitter feed.  With millions more watching through other media outlets .  The game itself didn't live up to the hype with the home side Jeonbuk winning 1-0 with 41-year-old Lee Dong-gook with the only goal with just five minutes remaining.   The measures took by the K League to make sure the game was safely carried out were very strict .  No spectators were allowed in the stadium with every member of p...