On June 25 2002 South Korea were playing Germany in a World Cup semi-final, roared on by a frenzied, capacity crowd in a spanking new Seoul stadium.
One year on, Asia's most successful-ever side ever have won only once in five games and the new venues built for the World Cup are having to reinvent themselves to make ends meet.
On the playing side it was always going to be an impossible task to sustain the form that brought sensational victories over Portugal, Spain and Italy before the Germans ended the dream in the last four.
Dutchman Guus Hiddink, still a national hero, is no longer in charge, having left as planned after the tournament and now enjoying more success as the boss of new Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven.
Former Portugal manager Humberto Coehlo has struggled in his wake, winning only once, against Japan, and with his side managing only one goal in five matches.
Coehlo has often had to make do without some of the top players from the World Cup squad, such as striker Seol Ki-hyeon and midfielder Kim Nam-il, who now ply their trade in Europe.
Despite the setbacks, the national team continue to play in front of crowds of 60,000 plus at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
STARK CONTRAST
However, only a few hundred die-hard supporters clad in red still gather in the Kwanghwamoon area of central Seoul to watch the games on giant television screens -- in stark contrast to the incredible scenes last year when up to a million red-shirted supporters of all ages gathered on the streets.
Crowds have also continued to hold up well for the K-League, expanded to 12 clubs this season following the inclusion of Taegu from South Korea's third city and Sangmu Phoenix, based in the southern city of Kwangju.
However, the 10 stadiums built or refurbished at a cost of $1.6 billion for the World Cup are struggling to pay their way, particularly those away from the big cities.
The 10 have suffered combined losses of around $8.4 million over the past year and are resorting to increasingly desperate measures to balance the books.
The stadium in Sogwipo, standing proudly on the edge of the ocean on the southern resort island of Cheju and hard-hit by a typhoon which damaged its roof last year, is to become host for giant-screen IMAX films.
Part of the Chonju stadium's car park has been sold off to be converted into a golf course and a wedding hall.
Even the Seoul Stadium, best-placed to attract big events and regular international matches, recently hosted an opera while a supermarket has opened within in the complex.
Despite the struggle to fill the stadiums, the country's appetite for holding international sporting events appears undiminished.
Pusan staged the 2002 Asian Games while Taegu will play host to this year's World Student Games.
WORLD SPOTLIGHT
Korea, home to the 1988 summer Olympics, is also eagerly awaiting the vote on July 2 to decide the host venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics -- Vancouver in Canada and Salzburg, Austria the opponents.
But it is the World Cup, and the way it catapulted Korea into the world spotlight, that remains the chief source of pride and renewed self confidence in a country where deep scars remain after half a century of Japanese colonial rule and the 1950-53 Korean War.
"It wasn't so much to do with football, more the Koreans' love of a massive event and of bonding," said Michael Breen, author of 'The Koreans' and long-term resident.
Thousands of those turning Seoul into a seas of red had little real idea of what was going on in front of them or of the significance of the victories but they knew whatever it was they felt a part of it.
Newspapers are currently running nostalgic articles giving a blow-by-blow account of each of Korea's increasingly unlikely World Cup wins, one even comparing the initial success against Portugal to the country's liberation from Japanese rule in 1945.
Nightclubs have organised "red devil" parties where giant screens replay the matches as the population briefly relives a glorious month the like of which they will never experience again. (Additional reporting by Lee Jung-min and Frances Yoon)
© 2024 Rediff.com -