Except for one meal of barbequed beef, the players had all their meals at the Renaissance Hotel in a special cafeteria provided for the team; formerly a small banquet hall on the 4th floor. The basic setting was always a buffet with soup at each table, and the menu consisted mostly of Korean food, avoiding greasy foods as much as possible.

The hotel's chief chef Kang Wan-sik, a former national handball player, prepared the food, far more than the number of players and staff, however, all of it was cleared away at every meal as if they had been starving.

The problem was coach Guus Hiddink, who he thought did not seem to enjoy Korean food so much. The hotel took this into consideration and prepared his favorites such as Spaghetti Bolognese sprinkled with cheese. However, there was no need to worry with Renaissance Hotel's public relations head Hong Yoon-hwa saying he ate every Korean dish served, from beef stew with cabbage leaves to seafood soup.

Before moving to the World Cup stadium, the players had dinner at 5:30pm consisting of one lettuce, ham and cheese sandwich; spaghetti with squid, mussels and tomato sauce; and warm noodles with beef soup. The hotel also gave out barley tea for the players to drink on the bus. Hong said he was preparing a beef barbecue buffet for the players when they return around after the game.

The players also ate health supplements sent from drug manufacturers. They had jangnwe-sam, a kind of mountain root, pills filled with musk honey, and drank extracts of ground snakehead mullet and carp. (Lee Ji-hyung, jihyung@chosun.com )