17 Apr 2003(Thu)

It's amazing who you can meet when you are lost.

I flew out of Narita International Airport on Monday morning and arrived at Seoul Incheon Airport just before 2 o'clock.

There was a limousine bus from the airport to the Seoul World Cup Stadium, and the cost was only 6,000 Won (600 yen) for an hour's journey!

Well, the information desk said the bus went direct to the stadium, but in fact it dropped you off with the gleaming silver stadium in sight. Rather like getting off the train at Shin-Yokohama station and seeing the International Stadium in the distance.

The weather was beautiful and sunny, but my computer and travel bag were heavy and uncomfortable to carry, and my new shoes were rubbing the skin from the back of my heels, so the trek to the stadium was not a pleasant one.

Then I had to find the sub ground, or practice ground, because this is where Japan would be training at 4 o'clock.

I looked at the map, and set off in the right direction.

I was expecting the practice ground to have its own grandstand, so I actually walked past the unmarked entrance to it and arrived, lost and flustered, in the reception area of the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

I clearly looked hot and bothered, so a very kindly-looking Korean gentleman approached me and asked in impeccable English: "May I help you?"

Oh yes you can!

He took me back the way I had come, and through the entrance to the practice ground, which stood beyond a vast, flat carpark area being used by skateboarders in the spring sunshine.

His name was Mr. Ho Pil, and he said he was 70 years old in Korean age, but born in 1934. He was a volunteer guide, showing football fans from overseas around the stadium. He said most of the visitors were from China and Hong Kong, so, with the SARS virus in mind, I put on a mask and sat a safe distance from him (this is a joke!)

"You should put a 'comma' after Ho," he said, as I wrote his name in my notebook. "Ho is my family name."

To please him, I wrote Ho, Pil.

I asked him about Wednesday's match, and he said Korea expected to win because of their fourth-place finish at the 2002 World Cup.

The 65,000-capacity stadium sold out in five hours, and there will be around 4,000 brave souls wearing Japanese blue on Wednesday night. The rest will be in Korean red.

"How will the Korean fans greet the Japanese team and supporters?" I asked, intrigued, because this intense rivalry reminds me of when England play Scotland in Glasgow. At that time, Glasgow is not a pleasant place to be for an Englishman.

"I think the feelings are changing," said Ho, Pil.

"The history between the two countries is bad, but we must change our minds and think of the future.

"We cannot only depend on the past. The World Cup has helped a lot, and the relationship is becoming more friendly."

It was nice to hear such comments.

Even though my heels were bleeding through my socks and I may have caught SARS in the line of duty.

ends