In the summer of 2002 the long wait was finally over. Thirty-two of the world's best football teams came together to play sixty-four games in 20 brand new stadiums over Japan and South Korea. With Brazil, Argentina and France being the favourites, the group stages kicked off to produce one of the most startling, unpredictable (sort of) and enjoyable world cup tournaments for decades.
Since my first world cup memory in 1986 my home country has failed to get into any world cup since but, with a population of one and half million, it can be forgiven. However I still watch games that I care about, which usually means the big clashes and all the games involving England, Ireland etc, however with 2002 I found myself hooked and watching quite a lot more games than I usually would. The reason for that was that this was easily the most exciting world cup that I have seen. Yes, the favourite won but the sheer number of surprises in the competition made it worth seeing. Just even the group stage I couldn't believe it when Senegal beat France, but to see France put out in the group stage was amazing I did feel sorry for them in their third game as everything seemed to go against them, hitting bars etc! However I didn't feel sorry for the arrogant Argentina, skiving off work to a friend's flat to watch them lose to England was a great memory for me but not half as funny as watching the favourites crash out to Sweden and sit crying or blank faced not understanding why the trophy hadn't been handed to them (as they seemingly had expected judging by their performances).
The third big surprise was Portugal. Not only being hammered by the USA but also crashing out of the group stage as well. However the exits are not half as exciting as the ones that got through what odds would you have gotten for South Korea, USA, Senegal and Japan to all progress to the second round? Or even further as many of them did. USA were exciting and it was typical of the joyless Germans to stop their run to the finals, Senegal were exciting and looked like they could even make their energy last long enough to give Pele what he wanted and Japan were lively in their group and full of character. However the real joy of the whole thing was South Korea. Everything was against them but they were wonderful even knocking out Italy like their Northern cousins did in 1966. Yes they had a lot of bad refereeing decisions go their way but it was exciting and the crowd support was wonderful, the support filling the streets in scenes that could not fail to please any football fan. Like North Korea in 1966 they were a genuine surprise and a real joy from start to their sad finish.
England did well despite some average performances (Nigeria and Sweden) but did the job over old foes Argentina (even if it looks like Owen dived to do it). They met Brazil early in the morning UK time and they were great in the first half aside from one defensive error that led to a goal. Sadly the second half was very tired and the energy was sucked out by a lucky goal that was fluffed by Seaman. Ireland may not have been great but they managed to go quite far while getting the maximum drama out of their games with so many last minutes goals I will remember the face of Big Mick when Keane scored forever, he looked like he couldn't believe it. It is a matter of opinion if the Roy Keane affair weakened the team or bonded them together but it was definitely the right decision by Mick to send him home if only other people had the guts to stand up to the big stars and tell them when they are wrong (but more of Rivaldo in a minute!). Ireland's loss to Spain on penalties was typical of them last minute goal in normal time after Spain had (foolishly) already taken off many strikers (including Raul) thinking 1-0 was enough, did their manager watch NONE of Ireland's games!? For me it was a real hard loss to take and I remember just feeling gutted even now.
Germany and Turkey were real surprises. Turkey had a great run and surprised a lot of people (almost Brazil, but more of that in a minute) and Germany got to the final but it was universally recognised that they had had a very easy run in the knockout stages. Brazil won of course but they proved that skill is not all about fair play. Their conduct in some games were shocking and made a mockery of FIFA's aim for 2002 to be the tournament that champions fair play. I have the DVD highlights of the cup and am glad to see that Rivaldo's play acting is there for all to see. In a close game against Turkey he was waiting for the ball to take a corner, the Turkish player hit it at him and it him his lower leg. Of course the 'greatest player in the world' fell to the ground holding his face and screaming in pain the result, a straight red card and the end to Turkish hopes of causing an upset. Worse still was FIFA's total inability to deal with this event and send a message to the footballing world to keep it clean and fair they handed Rivaldo a paltry fine that he must have paid out of his loose change, meanwhile many of the Brazilian team went on the TV to say they that this is football and they will do it to win. Well done FIFA a perfect chance to show that you meant what you said and you blew it. But I am glad that this cheat is on film for all time as the play actor he is many people look for a penalty etc but that is different from a blatant fake injury seeking a red. When I think of unsportsmanlike conduct in football today it is Rivaldo I think of.
Despite (or many because) of things like this, I consider 2002 to have been one of the greatest world cups I have been lucky to see. Many big teams were beaten and frustrated by the sheer hunger of smaller countries, while many small teams relied on speed and energy to carry them farther than anyone expected to them to. It may have ended with Brazil winning, Germany doing well without being memorable, England promising, Ireland being chancers and big name stars cheating and under performing but it was far from business as normal. Too often commentators and networks see small teams as box-office poison (eg Millwall in the 2004 FA Cup) and prefer the big clashes but in 2002 it was the teams that were dismissed by everyone that proved to be the biggest shocks and provide real drama, excitement and joy to modern football I cannot describe how refreshing the sheer enjoyment and love of the game from South Korea's players were when viewed in comparison with the arrogance of so many big name stars (whom I laughed loudly at when many of them got the first plane home). A great tournament that is worth buying a highlight DVD to see.
