The flight was at 11:20 am. As usual, very hot and humid, so I took a taxi to the Koreana hotel, where there was a limousine bus service to the airport. Timing was spot on, just as the taxi pulled in at the hotel the bus driver was rounding up the last of the passengers for the airport. All around the city fans were gathering for the game against Spain, probably well over a million will be thronging the streets later on today.

The drive took over half an hour and cost 10,000 won. I was happy to be at the airport in good time as I wasn't feeling great—probably too many spicy dishes at the fish restaurant the previous day. However, I did treat myself to a cheese and pickle sandwich and a cup of coffee for breakfast.

the plane left a little late and then had to wait the best part of an hour to get clearance to land at Narita (Tokyo airport), so I was happy to be on terra firma again. I had been thinking all morning how to spend the day in Tokyo, as my flight out was not until the 24th. At the hotel reservation desk they checked out the old reliable, the Capital Green hotel in Ueno park, but it was booked out. Other hotels in the vicinity of Ueno Park cost well over 10,000 yen, way beyond my budget, but then the reservations lady asked me whether I'd be interested in one of the hotels near the airport—the Washington airport hotel cost only 7,000 per night. That sounded OK to me, and if I didn't want to go sightseeing would also save me the fare into Tokyo, so I took it. There was a free limousine service to the hotel as well.

Spent the evening reading the Pink Samurai and getting a bit of washing done.

The Beautiful Game

In the quarter-final, the South Korea-Spain game ended goalless, but Korea won on penalties. Joaquin Sanchez's shot was saved, and Hong Myung Bo finished off the job for Korea. President Kim Dae-JUng says it's the country's happiest day in 5000 years. Spain coach Jose Antoniuo Camacho, on the other hand, was livid and you can now count Spain among those angry about what they see as bias towards South Korea on the part of referees, when not one but two goals for Spain were disallowed.

South Korea had never won a match during its five previous appearances in the Finals. In this tournament, however, the co-host is so far undefeated. It overcame Poland 2-0 and world No 5 Portugal 1-0. It tied 1-1 with the USA before upsetting Italy 2-1 in the knock-out second round of 16. Next up is Germany in the semi-finals in Seoul on Tuesday.