Soccer: Mania in Cup host's streets

SEOUL - South Korea's mass hysteria at the World Cup has scaled new heights with the team reaching the last eight and "Korea-mania" has earned a special place in the 72-year-old history of the soccer tournament.

Hundreds of thousands of people, most of them under 25, ran screaming through the capital after the golden goal from Ahn Jung-hwan upset Italy yesterday.

Up to four million people, most dressed in red T-shirts and headbands, had taken to the streets to watch the match on huge television screens erected in squares across the country.

Fanatical home fans have been a characteristic of previous World Cups. But throughout the first tournament to be held in Asia fans watching these screens have created an atmosphere of fevered excitement usually associated with teenage pop bands.

"It has been extraordinary," Fifa communications director Keith Cooper said. "I remember well the public enthusiasm in 1986 at the finals in Mexico and people lining the streets.

"But I think this has surpassed even that in sheer numbers."

At previous World Cups the streets have tended to be deserted during games as fans watched at home or in bars or restaurants. It was only after matches that wild celebrations began in public.

Children joined in the chanting but most were teenagers or adults under 25. They jumped up and down shouting madly every time the Koreans got the ball near the opponents' goal.

There has been a curious discipline amid the madness. Hooliganism, a problem at previous World Cups, was nowhere in sight. Alcohol was available but few people were drinking to excess. The drama of the football was giving them their kicks.

- REUTERS

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