Site of the thrillers awaits

Where next? Johnny Watterson on the next venue on the Republic's magical mystery tour

And so on to the "City of Filial Piety", Suwon in South Korea, "Land Of The Morning Calm". Located 44 kilometres south of the republic's capital Seoul, the Irish team's destination for Sunday's match in the knock-out stage, the Suwon World Cup Stadium, is still in mint condition. It hosted yesterday's 3-3 thriller between Senegal and Uruguay and the shock 3-2 defeat of Portugal by the United States last week.

Opened in May of last year with a capacity of 43,138 seats, over half of which are under cover, the stadium is home to the Suwon Bluewings, winners of the 2001 Asian Club Championship.

The design of the stadium is described as "a truly daring architectural plan which brings to mind the daring Suwon Fortress" and is located in the mid southern area of the country. More than $2 billion has been spent constructing 10 new stadia in South Korea, seven of which are football only.

Suwon is the nation's first planned city and was originally developed in the 18th century. The then monarch, King Jeongjo, wishing to move the royal court from Seoul to Suwon to be closer to the tomb of his father, relocated a large number of citizens to the area and built the Hwaseong Fortress.

It is not known if the wishes of the citizens were canvassed for this relocation, but King Jeongjo's expression of "filial piety" has clearly left its mark throughout the centuries.

A little smaller than greater Dublin, Suwon is home to more than one million people and is a thriving industrial and commercial centre. And in good news for Irish supporters, the area is also the centre of Korea's recreation industry. The Everland theme park and Woncheon amusement park occupy considerable acreages within a half hour's drive of the city.

The area evidently has a large football following as the resident Bluewings, founded only five years ago, are officially recognised as Asia's number one football club in the latest world rankings.

The stadium is a little closer to Suwon city centre than Lansdowne Road is to Dublin city centre, just one kilometre, and unlike some of the other venues used in the competition so far, is one of the soccer-only facilities.

Suwon is generally regarded as a satellite city for Seoul, with many of the population working in the capital. "It is also the oldest city in Korea, a very historical city and even older than Seoul. The Irish fans will find it friendly," says Lim Jung-Taek, second secretary of the South Korean embassy in Dublin.

The country has recently had a problem with foot-and-mouth disease but the Koreans say it is already under control.