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| Football fans watch the K league 1 15th round match between FC Seoul and Gangwon FC at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, Saturday. / Korea Times files |
By John Duerden
South Korea has been leading the way in showing the world how to deal with the coronavirus when it comes to football. The K-League was the first major domestic football competition of any standing (apologies to Taiwan and Turkmenistan) to restart after the coronavirus brought sport around the world to a halt.
It has gone well so far. The season has been developing nicely and in the first weekend of August, fans returned to the stadiums. OK, the capacities of each arena were limited to 10% of the available seats but players were doing their thing and doing so in front of real people who were not officials, team-mates or media representatives.
On that weekend, 9,000 fans up and down the country watched top tier teams in action. They went through temperature checks and had to leave their personal information but there they were.
The atmosphere was still a little strange given that the usual loud singing that football is famous for is not allowed. Fans are understandably kept apart with social distancing very much the order of the day but small steps are being taken. From next week, a bigger step will be taken as the limit will be lifted from 10 percent to 30 percent.
That means that there could be as many as 13,000 at Jeonju World Cup Stadium to see if Jeonbuk Motors can successfully defend the title from the current leader Ulsan Horangi.
There could even be 20,000 at Seoul World Cup Stadium though that would be more than the club has been attracting in recent years for most of its games.
This season has been worse than most but since parting company with coach Choi Yong-soo late in July, the terrible results have improved with two wins from the last two games. The most recent victory over Gangwon FC listed Seoul well clear of Incheon United at the bottom.
Incheon has flirted with relegation for years and this looks likely to be the season it happens. Lim Wan-Sup has stepped down and the new man Jo Sung-hwan has much to do. The former Jeju United boss was announced as the new man on Friday.
"We've sought for an experienced coach who can understand our situation and help us to overcome it," Incheon United said in a statement. "We decided to trust Jo with his long standing career as a player and coach."
If Jo manages to do that, it will be the greatest escape in the history of Korean football. Incheon failed to win a single match in the first 14 games of the season and has consequently become marooned at the bottom of the standings.
"I will do my best to meet the fans' expectations and support," Jo said.
Expectations are not high after years of defeats and depression. If the new boss can just put up something of a fight in the weeks to come, that will be something at least.
And fans will be there to witness whatever happens.
