World Cup 2002

▪ 2003

      On June 30, 2002—with some 69,000 spectators in the stands and an estimated billion fans watching on televisions around the world—Brazil won a record fifth association football (soccer) World Cup title, beating Germany 2–0 in an evenly contested final in Yokohama, Japan. In its early stages the tournament had been one of unexpected shocks, with several unfancied teams causing major upsets. France, the defending champion, lost to Senegal in the opening match in Seoul, S.Kor., and failed to qualify from its group matches. Argentina, Portugal, and Poland also failed to advance.

      In contrast, during the first dual hosting of a World Cup, home teams South Korea and Japan each headed its group. The surprises continued in the round of 16 as Korea stunned Italy in overtime, the U.S. upset Mexico to merit a quarterfinal place, and Senegal became only the second African nation to reach the last eight. Yet stripped of such episodes, the overall standard of play in the monthlong tournament disappointed.

      It was the Brazilians, patchy but potentially a threat, and the dogged, persistent Germans who survived the mayhem around them to reach the final. Germany might have taken the lead in the 49th minute, but Oliver Neuville's blistering long-range freekick was brilliantly fingertipped onto a post by Brazilian goalkeeper Marcos (Roberto Silveira Reis). Gradually Brazil assumed control, and in the 67th minute Ronaldo (see Biographies (Ronaldo )) side-footed the ball in after Oliver Kahn (see Biographies (Kahn, Oliver )), voted Goalkeeper of the Tournament, had spilled a shot by Rivaldo (Vitor Borba Ferreira) into his path. Ronaldo added his second goal 12 minutes later after Rivaldo cleverly feinted to allow the ball to run to his teammate. It confirmed Ronaldo as the tournament's leading scorer, with eight goals in seven games.

      Overall attendance at the 64 matches was 2,705,566 (1,438,637 in Japan and 1,266,929 in South Korea). While organization was generally satisfactory, high prices and poor ticket distribution kept crowds down. Statistically, 272 yellow cards, including 16 in one game (both records), and 17 red cards were shown. Hakan Unsal of Turkey became the 100th player sent off in a final tournament. Among the 161 goals scored, Hakan Sukur hit the fastest in any finals—just 10.8 seconds into Turkey's 3–2 third-place triumph over South Korea.

      The estimated worldwide television audience was a record 45 billion; Italy's Paolo Maldini completed a record 2,100 minutes of play over four World Cup finals; and Bora Milutinovic of Yugoslavia became the first man to have coached five different countries: Mexico (in 1986), Costa Rica (1990), the U.S. (1994), Nigeria (1998), and China (2002). Cafu (Marcos Evangelista de Moraes), Brazil's captain, became the first player to have appeared in three World Cup final matches.

      While Belgium won the Fair Play award, there was a general increase in discipline in penalty areas, with players engaging in shirt pulling and wrestling while awaiting corners and free kicks. There also was criticism of the refereeing and poor interpretation by touchline officials—Spain had two apparently legitimate goals ruled out in its quarterfinal loss to South Korea. The final itself, however, was superbly controlled by the Italian referee, Pierluigi Collina.

Jack Rollin

* * *