Ulsan Cup 2012

The weather here is officially amazing. Lately, we've had temperatures of between 70 and 80 everyday with sunny skies. From what I understand, it will get much hotter in July, but for now, I'm very content. As for me, my days have been made of mostly of school and soccer. This past weekend, our team made a 3 hour trip up to Ulsan for the annual 11v11 tournament. We have placed in all three tournaments so far this year, twice runners-up and one first place. So, we were hoping for a good result.

Ulsan is on the east coast, just north of Busan. It is one of the richest cities in Korea because of the amount of industry there. The majority of Hyundai cars and ships are made in Ulsan. This showed when we arrived on friday afternoon. The city center was full of beautiful high rise buildings (as opposed to the normal dull ones in most Korean cities) and the waterfront was lined with parks, a bamboo forest, and different types of outdoor art. Of all the places I've visited in Korea so far, this was one of the nicer cities I have seen.

On Saturday, we were up early and at the fields ready to play by 9am. The first day was the group stage. The tournament was setup in a group and knockout fashion, with 16 teams made up of expatriates. The city of Ulsan, along with the local foreign team, works together every year to put on one heck of a show. Not only do all the city officials come out, but there is entertainment, food, and some very nice prices for the winners. All the biggest teams from Korea come out, including two of the biggest teams from Seoul, two teams from Busan, and most major cities. We can say without a doubt that the Suncheon team was by far the smallest city represented there.

The first day we played three matches. We ended up 1-1-1 with the tie coming from the first game with Ulsan, the local team. After the first three games, we were all pretty shot. Although we had 3 - 4 hours between games, just the continuous action and incredible heat (it was a really hot weekend) was enough to kill us. That night we treated ourselves to Outback Steakhouse, which we all felt was well deserved. The second day out, we managed to take the first game 5-1 against a Russian team. However, in the semi-final match against Gwangju, which we had a 1-0 lead for most of the game, we conceded two goals near the end of the match to get knocked out. It was an unfortunate turn of events, but bittersweet. Although we lost, just the fact that we didn't have to play another match was a relief. We had 3 - 4 guys out due to injuries and fatigue, and those left standing were running on fumes. It's Wednesday now, and I'm still feeling the soreness of 5 games in 2 days. On a side note, the team we tied in the group stages ended up winning the cup by blowing out the final game. So, that goes to show that we definitely were a force to be reckoned with.

This was my first time at Ulsan (for some it was their 4th or 5th) and I can say that I had a blast. The atmosphere was awesome, the teams were top quality, and the organization of the event was amazing. Within an hour after our last game, we were all on our way to Busan to enjoy the Monday off (Buddha's Birthday). A night of good food, drinks, and the moonlit beach was a great way to end a good weekend.

Even better news, in the next month, we have two more big tournaments coming up, meaning lots of traveling and lots of soccer. Hopefully we can bring home some more hardware to continue our winning season.
Check out some of the pics!

Gatorade Commercial?

Walking away head held high

Team chant with Ulsan in the background

Bicycle!