The Day of Making History in World Cup

The Day of Making History in World Cup

"Now we are looking to the quarterfinals!"

That is what 114 telephone operators greeted with this comment when customers called on Friday.

The whole nation is hoping that the Korean squad would reign over Span and secure a place in the semifinals.

A day before round-of eight match against Spain, enthusiastic Korean football fans spent the day preparing for cheering for the Korean team.

150 members of Red Devils, official supporters of the Korean football team, will gathered at 6 am on Saturday in the Chamsil Stadium in Seoul and leave for Gwangju.

Red Devils are preparing for a card section, which will be a similar one to `AGAIN 1966` in Korea`s match against Italy.

Students at Gyeongsin High School, the alma mater of Korean midfielder Yoo Sang-cheol, are planning to cheer for the Korean players at Gwangwhamun on the game day.

Lee Duk-sun, the president of Neofidelity producing digital amplifiers, said, "After presideing over a meeting in the morning, I will go to Gwangwhamun with 12 employees to watch the game."

The police predicted that about 4.5 million people would gather for street cheering at 340 sites all across the nation.

About 600,000 people are expected to gather in Sejong-ro and in front of the Seoul City Hall respectively. And another 150,000 are expected to gather in Yoido, 100,000 in the Sangam World Cup Park.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency held a meeting presided over by police chief, Lee Pal-ho, and committed itself to maintaining safety and order at the street cheering sites.

The police will deploy about 29,000 policemen at 340 sites across the nation including 7,000 policemen around the City Hall and Gwangwhamun in an attempt to prepare for the worst. But the police will not suspend traffic in Daehakro on Saturday since there will be no street cheering planned there.

Dong-Yong Min mindy@donga.com