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The image of a heartbroken Luís Figo walking back to the dressing rooms, past a team of jubilant, victorious Greeks after the final whistle of Euro 2004 had blown is still one that I recall vividly whenever I think of the Greek football team. The thought of a stadium full of dejected Portuguese supporters, looking on as their was defeated in front of a home audience, even as confetti rained down on a team whose odds of winning had been pegged at 150-1 leaves me with mixed feelings.

While I am neutral towards Portugal, I do have a lot of respect for Figo; not only for his illustrious footballing career, but also his work with charities such as Stop TB, Soccer Aid and UNICEF. It was difficult to watch his career ending on a note of such abject defeat at the hands of the Greeks (Figo had announced that the tournament would be his last, before his departure from international football). However, with the odds stacked up so against them, it was impossible not to marvel at the fighting spirit and resilience that had brought the underdog Greek team to stage their first ever victory in an international tournament, and what has deemed one of “international football’s greatest surprises”.

My feelings towards Greece’s opponents in their opening match this World Cup, South Korea, are similarly undecided, due to a long-standing grudge. Having got through to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, my hopes were firmly pinned on Spain to win the tournament. I watched in horror as they lost the penalty shootout to South Korea, not quite believing the result when the final whistle blew. Despite all the accusations that home advantage and referee bias had played a part in bringing the Taeguk Warriors, as they are known, to a fourth place in the tournament, one had to acknowledge that it was a pretty monumental feat for them to have accomplished. A team that had been defeated 0-9 and 0-7 in their first World Cup participation in 1954, before failing to qualify for the tournament for the next 32 years, the South Koreans truly proved to be the admirable underdogs at the 2002 World Cup that they co-hosted with Japan.

Given my ambivalence towards both the teams playing in the first match of the day, who then will I be cheering for? Both Greece and Korea are relative underdogs, made more so by the fact that they share a group with the formidable Argentina. The decision is further complicated by the fact that despite the vastly different cultures and values of both countries, their score sheets based on criteria such as income per capita, carbon emissions, life expectancy and female leadership, the countries are well matched. The only major disparity lies in the fact that Greece has one of the highest rates of expenditure on military spending amongst all competing countries, incredibly spending almost twice what South Korea – technically still at war – does.

On the other hand, South Korea’s conciliatory sporting attitude towards their North Korean neighbours despite the recent sinking of a South Korean warship and North Korea’s subsequent violation of the pact of non-aggression is quite admirable – they have not only submitted a bid to jointly host the 2022 World Cup with North Korea, and remain open to co-hosting the event, they also continue to send food and economic aid to the north despite rising tensions, a commendable stance.

Placed 47th in the football rankings as opposed to 13th-place Greece, South Korea are the clear underdogs. However, it is impossible to predict the dynamics of the clash, as the two countries have never gone up against one another before. While I will be cheering for the plucky Taeguk warriors, I’m sure that both nations are bound to put up a valiant fight, making for an unpredictable and exciting start to the second day of the World Cup.

Posted in: Greece, South Korea, South Korea-Greece

Views expressed here are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Development Movement.