“Pucking U.S.A.”

Yeah, that’s a deliberate typo. At the time, it was a popular chant sung to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA”, although I think you can figure out what the real title was.

The second World Cup match of ‘02 was against the US of A and was held in Taegu (or Daegu), mostly because they knew a loss to the States in their own backyard might cause a mass riot, and Taegu is where the country’s largest U.S. military base is located.

I never got to see the match live, as I was teaching at the time, but I got home to see the results. Thankfully, the match ended in a draw, although I think the Koreans had the edge in shots and stamina. Check out pictures from the game.

The biggest test would soon arrive, in the form of Portugal, and although we know how that one turned out, stay tuned for my next installment tomorrow.