Street Cheering in Seoul (Korea 2-1 Italy, World Cup 2002)

Hundreds of thousands of Koreans in red celebrate as Korea upsets Italy 2-1 on Ahn Jung Hwan's golden goal in the 117th minute.

"A moment of transcendent glory."

..."Standing there on the field in Daejon, victorious, Ahn Jung Hwan has no idea where or what he is. The Korean fans, many people have breathlessly said, are the team's twelfth player, a spirit that takes invisible but tangible form and joins them on the field. Maybe that spirit blocked Vieri's shot, and kept Conceicao's out against Portugal, and grabbed Totti's heel and whispered to the linesmen when the Italians might or might not have been offside. I'm less of an animist. I think Conceicao and Vieri missed, and Totti dove, and the Italians are whiners who made a bad strategic decision and don't want to accept the consequences, and the Koreans tried really hard and got lucky. But I don't know, and maybe I'm wrong, and that possibility is the spirit that takes possession of Ahn Jung Hwan for just a moment, and looks out at Daejon through his eyes. It is the single greatest look of awe I've ever seen. Waves of rapture are crashing down on him. How could any single human be the focus of so much joy and relief?"

http://www.furia.com/page.cgi?type=twas&id=twas0386

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