Seoul

The Beautiful Shame

You don't need to be watching the pitch to know when a goal's been scored. You just need to keep an eye on Choi Kyung-Sik.

The co-commentator for South Korea’s KBS TV is at the Suwon World Cup Stadium, about an hour south of Seoul, for Suwon Samsung Bluewings' home match against Daejeon Citizens.

It's a one-sided affair – the K-League's fourth-from-bottom side, the Bluewings, strolling to a four-nil win against their third-from-bottom opponents.

But when the goals go in, Choi is full of animated excitement, refocusing quickly on his monitor to analyse each replay.

Sure, some of it is TV technique. But there's no mistaking the genuine enjoyment he gets from watching a well-worked goal. No mistaking either, the undercurrent of regret he feels about what's happened to his cherished game.