It was strange.

The Asian Games men’s soccer team, led by Hwang Sun-hong, defeated China 2-0 in the men’s soccer quarterfinals of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at the Huanglong Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on Monday.

The Chinese had their sights set on a top-four finish after beating South Korea. They were undefeated in the group stage with two wins and a draw, and had beaten Qatar 1-0 in the Round of 16. They had their reasons. On top of that, it was the 스포츠토토 National Day, and most predicted a crowd of 50,000.

The Korean reporters packed up early and headed to the Huanglong Sports Center to make sure they didn’t get pushed out of their seats by the Chinese reporters. Luckily, the Chinese journalists started arriving two hours before kickoff.

Despite the fact that the Huanglong Sports Center has a lot more seats than other venues, there were no media spots left. However, the behavior of some journalists was frowned upon. Watching badminton and table tennis on laptops while watching soccer was adorable.

Some reporters brought cheering devices that made clapping noises and banged them whenever China caught the ball, and some “banged” their desks when China did poorly or Korea did well. In effect, it was a scene of cheering rather than reporting.

Unusually, during the Korea-China game, reporters’ AD cards were checked one by one. The AD card is required to enter the stadium, so it is not checked separately. It turned out that someone who was not a member of the press entered and sat in the press box. There was also a scuffle with the organizers. Some people didn’t bring laptops, but only took photos and videos with cell phones and digital cameras.

In the 22nd minute of the second half, when Park Kyu-hyun and China’s Fang Hao were about to start a nerve-wracking battle, the Chinese reporters angrily chanted “Han Guo”. They cheered and booed. It was just like any other fan. Some even left the stadium before the match was over. It was the strangest press box I’ve ever experienced.