Podcast S03 EP 07 EAFF Games thoughts

We’ve got a special edition of Hwa-ting sports podcast this week! I’ve watched 3 EAFF games and now it’s time for my thoughts. Or is it rants? It’s me we’re talking about here so it’s probably both *joke sting*. Anyway, we’ll begin with a little background. The EAFF stands for East Asian Football Federation, which manages football events between countries for the east asia region. So you’re talking the big 3, plus Hong Kong, Taiwan, North Korea, Mongolia, and Guam. The Northern Marianas also joined recently to make 10 member federations. But basically it just boils down to the big 3 and whomever survives the gauntlet with Hong Kong as the 4th opponent this year. This year’s big championship round is in the Suwon area of Korea, which is a pain in my ass to get to, so I am watching it at home. Let’s go over the matches before my air conditioner shorts out again *sparking noises* Ohh that is not good…

Anyway I saw the first match of the tournament on the 7th which was South Korea vs China. It was…a match. China looked utterly confused out there, as if they haven’t studied their own playbook that well. Korea’s footwork was far more polished and they were able to take control quickly. 이동경 scored in the 8th followed by 주민규 in the 21st and 김주성 sent one in 12 minutes after halftime. China didn’t generate a lot of chances on offense, but in the middle of the second half after some changes, they were able to put more balls at the goal, though their best chance was a free kick that sailed over the crossbar. If you wanna watch the highlights, be my guest but you will find they are mostly Korean. The crowd was barely there at the camera angles, but there were some festive fans wearing the red devil horns to rock their team. I should’ve paid better attention but I didn’t see any Chinese fans. Perhaps the Coupang broadcasters were lazy? *joke sting* I don’t know, this one was a bit of a snoozer to be honest. 3 to nil.

The next game I covered was the women’s leg with Korea vs China on Wednesday night. This one was far more fun to watch, as I should have expected. I didn’t check their fifa rankings until after the game, but China’s ranked 17 and South Korea’s 21st in the standings. So it was an even match, but it also was a bit chippy. Liu Jing got a yellow card for smashing a player, and there was a lot of jersey pulling and chippyness from the Chinese side. China started the scoring with a great kick by Yao Wei, then Jang Sel-gi countered with a lucky bounce at the end of halftime. China took the lead again off of a double header by Shao Ziqin in the 67th minute. Korea pushed back hard but chance after chance was blown by the team because of poor speed or overkicks. The legend herself Ji So Yeon kicked in a goal at the very end to tie it up. Korea had one more chance to take the lead but blew it. My final analysis is that the Chinese played team ball better, especially on the offensive end. But they couldn’t keep possession that often and often got caught off-guard and pressed by the Koreans. Also of note is Casey Phair came in very late in the game, which was an odd choice but it’s good to see her on the team again. I would say after this game that China is my favorite to win the women’s side, though I haven’t seen Japan yet. Japan squashed the Taiwan team 4 to nil, so I’m expecting them to be competitive. 

Game 3

Let’s talk about the third game I saw, which was Japan Women’s vs Korea on Sunday. This game was like the Chinese game but a little less chippy. One thing that seemed to happen a lot was breakaways. The second half had several breakaways but Korea couldn’t score on any of them, and Japan kept kicking the ball at the goalie. It seemed like Japan was playing conservatively, picking their moments. They got a good moment in the first half when NARUMIYA got a lucky shot under the goalie’s arms. They did a good job of keeping Ji So Yeon bottled up and for a while it seemed like she barely got anything going. Clearly the Red Devils got their second half energy and were all over the place. The goal by Jeong Da Bin late in the game made it another tie, and man it was not an easy one. Also, I didn’t see Casey Phair out there at all. She only played a few minutes so far in this tournament. I get the sense Korea either doesn’t need her or they got her on minutes restrictions. Anyway, the Hwaseong field looked pretty bad. Grass was coming off the players cleats in visible chunks. The Hwaseong team last played there on the 6th, so I can’t quite blame them for the condition of the field. But it won’t surprise me at all if the Japanese team makes complaints in the press. 

The last of the men’s games was on Tuesday and it was a bit of a thriller. Korea vs Japan with the winner getting the trophy. Korea gave up an early goal to Japan’s Germain and had Korea’s offense stymied the entire first half. In the second half Korea took a far more aggressive approach, trusting their back end and getting a lot of good shots on goal. There were two great shots that by all rights could have gone in, but the goalkeeper Osako made two supersaves. Even the Korean announcers were impressed by his gutsy moves. This was definitely the marquee match of the championship, full of spills, pushes, and chills. Was Korea the underdog even though they were at home? Yes, the Japanese players ratings were quite a bit higher than the Korean players. I think if Lee Kang In were here, the match might have been a little different. The men’s team should be proud of the level of play, but also work on shooting under pressure because hoo boy that’s an area of concern. You can’t win the game if you don’t score a goal *joke sting*. Speaking of concern, there was one Japanese fan on Bluesky that said the stadium was empty. Well, that was kinda true for the first half. After halftime, there were far more fans in the seats and the noise level went up with it. I think I heard the total was 18,400 in attendance, which tracks because this is a rivalry game and Yongin’s not too far from Seoul though it is off the train line, though there is a subway line out to the stadium. Should there have been more fans? Yes, certainly, if this were a weekend and not a Tuesday night. 

I wasn’t going to cover the women’s game because I thought Korea would not be able to score the required goals to get past Japan in the goal differential to win the tournament. But I was wrong! Because the first tiebreaker said the winner would be determined by goals scored between the tied teams. Because Korea had 2 against Japan and 1 against China, it had a total of 3 goals and thus won the tournament. Korea won 2-nil against Taiw…er, Chinese Taipei, whatever, but only the win actually counted. It’s their first EAFF title in 20 years! Phair played a little bit and Ji So Yeon played a lot as well and even scored a goal. She’s like the Megan Rapinoe of Korean soccer now. I didn’t think she was even going to play this tourney because I thought she retired from the national team? Checks notes… ok she left the national team for the EAFF team. I thought they were the same team? Why would we send a different team to the EAFF than we would play for the FIFA stuff? Fine, fine, it’s fine it’s fine….

Game of the week

I’m looking at Saturday night’s Dragons vs Samsung Bluewings. Both teams are near the top of K2 and are itching to go to the playoffs. Steelers vs Hyundai Motors is another good one but I think Jeonbuk might smash them. I want to recc some baseball but Sunday’s weather seems uncertain and I’m not holding out any hope for saturday. Kiwoon’s on the road so if it rains on Sunday across the country, ain’t nobody playin’ ball. Then there’s Korea vs Qatar basketball tonight at 7 and Sunday at 3. It’s kinda quiet out there in the sports world, listeners. Too quiet…*joke sting*

Ending

Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean sports, like I certainly did. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because our show has hints and tips to make their lives easier. Those lost lost souls…(2 second pause). If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to James! A shoutout to our listeners in Johannesburg South Africa! We seem to be popular in South Africa these days! Maybe I should consider a road episode there? Next episode will be next week and we’re talking about the Universiade! Until next time, Korean sports fans!

(AI voice or other) Guests of the Hwai-ting sports podcast drink at Bonbu Gwang Alley, Busan’s wildest pub this side of the beach! Marvel at their dart board which has more holes outside the target than inside. Laugh at the sexist and poorly spelled graffiti and poorly written phone numbers on the side of the bathroom walls! Enjoy their boring book release parties every weekend, written by expats whose writing skills barely pass the 7th grade! That’s Bonbu Gwang Alley, the best bar in the city!