OpinionWhat South Korea’s star turn at the Fifa World Cup can teach China

Peter Kammerer says there are many reasons why a football fan supports a particular team, but in the case of Hongkongers’ support for South Korea, its soft power – in the form of popular dramas and K-pop – surely plays a major role

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A South Korean supporter cheers at the Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia, during the game against Germany on June 27. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 5:15pm, 2 Jul 2018Updated: 7:40pm, 2 Jul 2018

It’s no fun to be stuck in a corner of a jam-packed bar, tucked under the TV, as Germany and South Korea are in the throes of a World Cup soccer game. I was a Caucasian minority, the vast majority being Asian and, of them, mostly Hongkongers.

Being half German, my allegiances were natural. Of everyone else, the roar each time the South Koreans touched the ball and the silence when a German player made a move ensured I kept my emotions to myself.

I couldn’t fathom what was going on; Germany were the defending champions and the South Koreans had almost zero chance of progressing into the next round of the competition. How could I apparently be the only one to want to back the obvious winner? But history was being made and the Koreans prevailed, with the German team crashing out before the knockout stage for the first time since 1938.

I’m not a staunch fan of the sport, so the loss bothered me less than the intrigue of a bar full of people crowing over how wonderful “their” team had been, even though it failed to make the final 16 because of Sweden’s 3-0 defeat of Mexico.

There’s no argument that the South Korean victory was special. It was flavoured with the underdog paradigm, in which the possibility of the champion being unseated in the mould of David and Goliath is energetically set upon by fans; I wincingly witnessed that.

Watch: Highlights of South Korea’s 2-0 win over Germany