I WANT FOOTBALL

World Cup 2002

World Cup 2002 was another attempt by FIFA to spread the word of the Beautiful Game. This time the tournament was hosted jointly by (South) Korea and Japan. It was a success up to a point in my book. Following from the Glenn Hoddle era (I think that's the right word) there was now a Swede in charge of the England team. Like in France there were 32 teams initially split into 8 groups, with the top two from each going through to play in the Round of 16. There were four first time qualifiers, PR China, Ecuador, Senegal and Slovenia. England were Britain's only representatives although they were also joined by the Republic of Ireland.

Group Stage

Poom Tang! In an almost carbon copy of the first game from Italia 90, for Argentina read France; for Cameroon read Senegal and for Francois Omam Biyik read Papa Bouba Diop. Yes, in a shock to rival Argentina 0-1 Cameroon, the defending Champions were humbled by African opponents. Unlike Argentina, however, France crashed out at the end of the group stage, having garnered a single point in a goalless game versus fellow failures Uruguay. Denmark topped the group with 7 points, whilst the Senegalese were second with 5 points.

Group B saw Spain go through as winners followed by Paraguay who edged out South Africa on the basis of having scored more goals - both had 4 points and a goal difference of zero. In Group C, Brazil qualified with a 100% record along with Turkey who had the same points a Costa Rica, but a better goal difference. Apart from France, Group D was perhaps the biggest surprise of the group stages as hosts South Korea and the USA accumulated too many points for Portugal and Poland. In Group E there was no surprise to see Germany qualify as group winners, and Ireland qualified in second place at the expense of Cameroon and Saudi Arabia.

And so to the Group of Death. With four extremely strong teams: Sweden, England, Argentina and Nigeria, it was always going to be a close call, and so it proved. Argentina started with a close win, 1-0 over Nigeria before England and Sweden shared a 1-1 draw. Then in the second set of games, Sweden and England both moved onto 4 points with a 2-1 over Nigeria and 1-0 against Argentina respectively - England gaining at least some revenge for their last two matches against Argentina in the World Cup Finals. And from the penalty spot too - a nation held its breath as David Beckham slotted on the stroke of half time. In the final pair of games it was still open - any two of Sweden, England or Argentina would qualify for the Round of 16. Two draws, 1-1 between Sweden and Argentina and a soulless, goalless damp squib between England and Nigeria, saw the two European teams prevail. By nature of having scored more goals Sweden were the group's winners.

In Group G Mexico surprisingly edged Italy as they both qualified at the expense of Croatia and Ecuador. Going into the last pair of games things had looked decidedly tricky for Italy. After a win against Ecuador and a defeat against Croatia they were tied on 3 points each with their almost neighbours. They may have gone out too, but for their late equaliser against Mexico and Croatia's loss in those last two games. And finally, Japan and Belgium proved to have too much for Russia and Tunisia.

Round of 16

There were a few surprises in the Round of 16. Not least was South Korea's 2-1 defeat of Italy. And then too we had Senegal knock out Sweden. Both wins were secured with sudden death goals in extra-time. That the USA should knock out Mexico must also rank as a surprise too. Otherwise, things ran pretty much to form even if some of the performances of the favourites left a little to be desired. Notably, Spain struggled to see off Ireland, having to resort to penalties. Germany beat Paraguay with the only goal - scored late on by Oliver Neuville and Turkey knocked out co-hosts Japan by a single goal, this one scored by Umit Davala. In the two strong performances by favourites, England knocked the stuffing out of Denmark by 3 goals to nil and Brazil simply had too much for Belgium.

Quarter Finals

Now at last we were down to the last eight - the nitty gritty of the tournament began here. But in truth, the best games of Korea Japan 2002 had already happened. England were toothless against Brazil, scoring first and then simply demonstrating why it's unlikely that the inventors of the beautiful game will ever win the World Cup again. Brazil would surely have won, despite the comedy nature of the winner as Nayim... sorry wrong game, as Ronaldinho floated the ball over David Seaman's head into the empty net. Germany could allow the USA the luxury of all of the ball, knowing that the point of the game is to actually score a goal - which they did, just the one, but one more than the Americans. Then we had Turkey and Senegal, another game decided by the only goal, this time a golden goal, four minutes into extra time, scored by Ilhan Mansiz. Only Spain's defeat by co-hosts Korea had any genuine football drama. But then even that was limited to a penalty shootout following a goalless 120 minutes.

Semi Finals

The semi-finals both saw 1-0 wins for the two strongest teams left in the competition, namely Brazil and Germany. In a repeat of their Group E encounter, Brazil defeated Turkey with a goal from Ronaldo and the Germans finally showed the other European teams how to beat Korea, Micheal Ballack scoring their goal.

Final

Played on 30 June 2002 this wasn't the most memorable World Cup Final. The records state that Brazil won the game, and their 5th World Cup, with two goals from Ronaldo, but I don't recall that much incident. There was no ebb and flow and there was no real surprise that Brazil ran out winners.