Korea/Japan 2002
Reflections

3 July 2002
The Tournament: Best ever?
Korea/Japan 2002 turned out to be the most dramatic World Cup ever, though, not the most exciting.  From watching World Cups since 1986, I'd rate USA 94 as the most exciting.  With more goals and action, higher quality games and big-name players like Maradona, Romario, Bebeto, Baggio, Hagi, Bergkamp, Klinsman, Valderama and Stoichkov all excelling, it provided many more great games and moments right thoughout the entire tournament.  Only the final was the real disappointment, and there was only one other 0-0 game.  But even that proved exciting as both Korea and Bolivia attacked furiously for the entire match.  Hosts USA, as well as Ireland, Nigeria, Bulgaria and Sweden all made memorable runs.  There was also Argentina's and Maradona's rise and fall, which culminated in the 3-2 loss to Romania in the eighth final that still stands as my favourite all time World Cup match, Baggio's journey from substitution against Ireland then to match winner in the knockout games then to villian in the penalty shootout, Brazil and Holland's classic 5-goal quarter final second half, Colombia's shock early elimination and Saudi Arabia's Owairan's amazing solo goal against Belgium that was part of heaps of other classic goals scored from stunning long shots (who can forget Hagi's effort from the side-line?), glorious free kicks and swift counter attacks. 

Korea/Japan 2002 suffered in comparison, especially the lackluster knockout phase, but as all football fans now realise, drama is what football is ultimately about and is how this World Cup will be remembered.  The upsets and the runs of Korea, Senegal, Turkey and the USA really captivated the world.  The tournament was so drama-packed that most failed to realise the paucity of goals until post-tournament statistics highlighted them.  Many pointed to the ball as too light and bouncy, which made it difficult to keep down.  In contrast, the Qestra ball from USA 94, with its extra bend and swerve properties, actually aided the longer distance shooters.  But sadly, the tournament will also be remembered for the often atrocious refereeing that will leave a long lasting legacy.  Actually, knowing that Fifa is as equally inept, it probably won't, but that's another story.  While the refereeing was poor, only one team can blame their elimination for it in the end.  Most teams that suffered poor decisions in some games had them balanced out with favourable decisions in other games.  So yes, based on pure drama, this World Cup was the best ever.

The Final: The worst possible result.
The final will be remembered for it finally seeing the two most successful World Cup teams ever meet for the first time ever in a World Cup match.  But for a someone like me that wanted a new team to win the tournament, the final match-up turned out to be the worst possible combination and the Brazillian victory the worst possible result.   This was especially so in that both came into the tournament with poor form and were the sole beneficiaries of all the upsets.  Many commentators called it the cream rising to the top.  I say that the cream had blown away leaving the yucky semi-diluted mixture found at the bottom.  In the end, the match turned out to be one more befitting that of a quarter final.  If it had not been for the cosy draw, that's where both these teams would have met their match, if not earlier.  Brazil really needed to face France and/or Argentina to prove their worth whilst Germany needed to face Spain and/or Italy and/or Portugal.

Thankfully, the spirited opening by both teams meant for an entertaining final that held some attention.  Germany played their best football the tournament, but without the suspended midfielder Ballack, found it hard to get quality final balls in.  Germany just had to score first to win, but at 0-0 at half time, and with Brazil having better of the latter stages of the half, the tell-tales were ominous.   After giving some hope with their first half display, Germany then disappointed when gifting Brazil the opener through a series of calamitous errors.  First, instead of clearly the ball from the danger zone, Hamman dallied, was dispossessed, and Rivaldo pounced.  The goal-keeper of the tournament, Germany's Oliver Kahn, then spilled the catch and Ronaldo took the rebound.  Given Australia's penchant for such acts, I was more critical of the turnover in defensive midfield rather than Kahn's error that everyone else criticised.  Without that, there'd have been no shot on goal.  But still, disappointed that Kahn mange to spill the ball.

From that point on, it was game over.  Immediately Germany panicked - as expected from a team low on confidence that also had an unconvincing run to the final - and played the long ball game.  Changing tactics like that was something you'd never see from German teams in the past.  It just typified the ordinary nature of this German team.  As for Brazil, they just ran out the game, scored another goal on the break, and celebrated disgracefully at the end with their offensively overt religious display.  Not everyone is Catholic, nor even religious, and public displays of one's personal beliefs should be banned in accordance with any other form of advertising that Fifa and most other sporting organisations already ban.  Despite that, the hand-over of the World Cup was first class and beautifully done and really highlighted the glory in this ultimate sporting trophy.  But please, save those religious displays for the dressing room.

Who really had the luck?
It's amazing the claims by many of Korea's lucky run, but an analysis of their games only shows the quarter final against the Spain to be lucky.  Spain had two goals disallowed through blatant refereeing errors.  In fact, Spain was the genuine hard luck story of the tournament.  As for the rest of Korea's games, they beat Poland and drew with the USA fair and square, though, against Portugal and Italy, did benefit by those two teams self-destructing.  Many cite Portugal's two red cards and hitting the post as luck towards Korea, but that's part of the game.  It was not Korea's fault Portugal sought to brutalise them and cop a couple of reds.  Nor is their fault that Portugal were inaccurate enough to the post.  Yes, inaccurate.  So often commentators label post and bar hitting as beating the goalie and lucky for the opposition, but again, that's just part of the game.   Strikers aim for the corners and only have a foot or so of the goal that the goalie can't reach.  So for shots to the hit bar is not bad luck, it's just missed.  A few inches more and it misses the post completely.  And sorry, the goalie is only beaten when the ball hits the net.

As for Italy, yes, that was an incorrect offside call but for the entire history of the sport since I've been watching, the referees have always got those line ball decisions wrong.  Totti's red card was technically wrong too (on slow motion replay I might add), but since he was a forward and that Italy had given up attacking long before that, his send-off meant nothing in the end.  Many also point to Vieri's shot that he skied from point-blank range that would have killed Korea, but what about that Korean scissor kick and low free kick under the wall that just a few inches wider both would have resulted in goals?  And those incidents came before all of Italy's incidences (except the free kick, which came after Vieri's miss), meaning Italy would have been killed off first.

The real lucky teams were Brazil and Germany.  Germany had a cosy group against an inept Saudi Arabia, a strangely meek Cameroon and an ordinary Irish team that played them off the pitch for most of the game.  With players mostly from England's lower divisions, yes, that Irish team was ordinary.  Then come the knockout phase, German met a defensively minded Paraguay and could only win from a late goal that luckily broke from a goal kick.  Against the USA in the quarters, they were again played off the pitch.  If the US had a Vieri, they'd have won 3-0.   Finally the semi-final against Korea: Kahn saved them against a tiring team that had a combined 4 less rest days than Germany leading up to the match.

Brazil's run is a similar story.  Winning the group was a cakewalk against China, Costa Rica and Turkey.  But even in the Turkish match, they only won due to that shocking penalty decision awarded against Turkey for a foul that occurred 10 metres outside the box.  In Brazil's first knockout match, Belgium scored first by a Wilmots header but had the goal wrongly disallowed.  Even now, no one knows why.  Then, when Brazil did score, it came off a deflection.  In chasing the game, Belgium were all over Brazil and would have won had it not been for super-human goal keeping from Marcos.  A depressing England then proved to be a pushover in the quarter final and against Turkey in the semi final, again had to rely on outstanding goal keeping to keep them in it whilst also requiring a moment of Ronaldo brilliance to finally score.  Sure Brazil had twice as many shots in that game, but the game could quite easily have gone Turkey's way with a bit of luck towards them.

No wonder Brazil thanked God like it was no tomorrow after the final.  The team barely qualified yet goes on to win the World Cup against the team that equally rode it's lucky after barely qualifying and losing several key players through injury before the tournament even started.  But it had nothing to with God - he does not favour anyone, especially those that suck-up so much - it had mostly to do with luck.

England: Midfield problems, Seaman not to blame, and that Argentine penalty
Before the tournament, most pundits agreed that England's midfield would be a weak link, especially with the late withdrawal of Gerrard.  With the injury to Hargraves in game one, their deficiencies surely would be further exposed.  But as the tournament progressed, and England beat Argentina in a tough match then beat Denmark in the eighth finals, those problems seemed to go away.  Or were they simply forgotten?  Yes, they were forgotten - until the the quarter finals off course.  There, they created no chances from open play, and seemed lost for ideas when chasing the game against a team with a man down.  They only took the lead through a defensive error and shocking goal keeping.  Whilst many have focused on Lucio's first touch, the greater debacle was goal keeper Marcos's unbelievable early commitment to diving left.  It was so early it looked as though he was trying to get out of Owen's way rather than in anticipation of a shot.  Definitely there was no obvious shimmy from Owen to draw Marcos into such an early commitment either.  Just terrible goal-keeping really.  The conspiracy theory that Italy claimed were against them immediately prompted a thought that if it was true, it was more wide-spread.  Brazil's win quickly snuffed that idea out.

Anyway, the Brazil game merely highlighted a problem evident throughout the entire tournament: lack of goal scoring chances in open play.  Even the goals against Denmark, the first two were due to Danish mistakes rather than incisive English build-up.  The only way I ever thought England could be Brazil, and even Argentina in the first phase, was to somehow grab a goal and defend.  It worked against Argentina, but not against Brazil.  They just lacked ideas and their midfield defensive integrity collapsed when it was needed most.  The positive side of things is that the midfield players are young, and should get better.  Even one of the English commentators felt optimistic about the future when he stated they would be a genuine force in four years time if they can develop.

Yes, England were unlucky with that Ronaldinho goal, and while Seaman is to blame, facts are that if Ronaldinho tried that shot 100 times again, he'd probably not score another one.  I also question the decision to set up a one-man wall for the free kick.  I have no idea the purpose of such a wall because a cross will always come in high from that area.  But what it did on this occasion was to block the view of the ball for Seaman.  This fraction of a second delay had just as much to do with the error than Seaman being too far off his line.  Teams seem to over-use walls, period.  Players have trouble scoring from the penalty spot, let alone from 30 metres outs, so why have a wall and risk the goalie being unsighted until it's too late?  It's often more a hindrance than a help, especially when it also offers the attacker an intermediate reference point to line up their free kicks, which surely makes things even easier.

Finally, was it a penalty against Argentina?  Yes.   Whilst one replay confirmed it, and one confirmed a dive, facts are that the Argentine player did stick his boot in unnecessarily.  The referee could only ever see one way - as a trip, or an attempted trip.  Whether there was contact or not, is irrelevant.  You just don't stick the boot in like that.

Italy - Stop your whingeing
Italy only have themselves to blame for losing to Korea.  Instead of defending once they took the lead, they should have sought to gain another goal.  The conspiracy theory is an absolute joke.  Whilst they were denied goals against Croatia, they still qualified for the next phase.  Luck was on their side.   Against Korea, whilst that late offside call was wrong, the guy was only level, not clearly onside, and the referees have consistently missed those all tournament.  As for the red card on Totti, well, it mattered little.  He's not a defender and would not have been involved in that winning Korean goal.  And as for his impact on going forward, Italy seemed content with the penalty shootout even before his send-off.   But was it a dive?  Well, ask yourself the question: did the fall reflect the magnitude of the contact?  I don't think so.  Technically it was a dive, but in this tournament, the crack down has been more on the blatant dive where there's been minimal contact.  Since the Korean player actually got to the ball first, and then made the contact, the correct decision would have been to play on.

The USA - Team of the tournament, with the player of the tournament
Mexico was the team of the first phase, but the USA took over that mantle in the second phase.  Their destruction of their regional rivals in that eighth final further strengthened the role of having a good coach.  Whilst the USA's talent is restricted to their local MLS and squad players in lowly first division European teams, their tactics have been first rate.  All the top international teams have the ability to break quickly from midfield, and this is what the USA has been able to do.  All goals from open play during the tournament have come from quick breaks, often after opposition mistakes.  Their resolve and their ability to not waiver from the team plan under adverse circumstances has been first rate too.  Even the loss to Poland, they continued played the quick-breaking game, and if was not for the two early goals conceded, would have won that match as well. 

Because of that loss to Poland, many thought they were not deserved to reach the second phase.  Truth is they finished with four points - the same as many other teams that made the second phase - and people should remember that it is irrelevant as to what stage of the group you beat such teams.  If the US had lost to Poland first, then beat Portugal to qualify, we'd be praising them as deserved second-round qualifiers.  But since the Polish lost was the most recent game, suddenly they the US undeserved.  Weird.

Come the second phase, the US proved how good they were anyway.  They tactically out-played Mexico with two quick breaking goals, and further surprised against Germany when they started Donovan up front with McBride.  Actually, they more than surprised, they tore them to shreds.  An amazing turnaround compared to when they played Germany in France 98.  Germany had no answer to this US team's speed, ball movement and gameplan.  USA were superb, and it was almost incomprehensible that this was the US of A destroying Germany, and not the team that lost all three games at France 98.  Now I am sure many people realise, including the Germans themselves, that this German team is not one of their better ones, but I doubt they could even believe the trouble that the US was causing.  Not since the second half against Korea in the 1994 World Cup has Germany been so dominated by one of football's third world countries.  And if the US had a Vieri on the team, Germany would have been beaten - easily.

Despite many people unable to find a star player, Turkey's Hasan Sas and Germany's goalie Oliver Kahn were clearly the most critical players in their teams' performances.  Of the up and coming stars, which again many people have been unable to unearth, the USA's Landon Donovan has been a stand out.  I remember him terrorising the Joeys in that 1999 World U17 Cup semi-final.   And against Germany in this tournament, US coach Bruce Arena's astute move made him a constant menace to them.  He had several chances to score after his beautifully read quick-breaking runs.  After just a minute, yet another wrong offside call denied him a one on one chance.  Later on, he was primed to curl a shot past German goalie Oliver Kahn into the far corner, but through lack of poise, tried to skip past him to angle a shot at the near post, whereby the shot was easily saved.  In the end, Germany can thank the continued outstanding work of Kahn - easily goal keeper of the tournament - for keeping them in the game.

Arena rightly feared the German height, and that was how they scored.  Still, given the close range of that header, one felt that US goalie Freidel could have come out and gone for a punch, or at least pressure the goal scorer Ballack, instead of being a sitting duck.  Other than a header that hit the post not long after, Germany created nothing for the rest of the game.  Instead, the US remained their hard-working poised selves, and searched for the equaliser.  There was a scrappy corner that seemed handball when it hit a defender on the line, though, the US were more concerned about whether the ball actually crossed the line.  The ball certainly hit the player's arm, but it's only a penalty if the handball is deliberate or the player deliberately has his arms in such a position that it becomes a potential obstruction.  On this occasion, the arm was down by the player's side, so where else is he going to keep it?  Clearly, the law needs to be rewritten to clarify exactly what is deemed a handball.

Besides that, the US kept breaking and throwing men forward at the end.  Their best chance came when defender Sanneh, thrown forward in an excellent Arena move, got on the end of a far post cross but managed to hit it just wide.  It was this sort of opportunity that one of the top teams would have converted. Call it killer instinct if you like, but Belgium had similar opportunities when playing Brazil as well.  While a sound team ethic and good coaching can allow lower talented teams to compete with the bigger ones and grab a win or two, eventually scoring chances are missed, the team will lose, and a sustained run in a tournament like the World Cup will end.  Unfortunately, this is the one area of the game where nothing but sheer talent can control.

With the US gone, it was the first time I personally felt sorrow for the elimination of a team other than Australia (of course, not as great).  Most people dislike the USA (country) because of their power mongering of world affairs.  But to me, I see their football team not as a representation of the American country, but simply as a footballing team.  Facts are, that group of players relates the most with our country's players, which is why I took to them.  Like us, they are very much a team trying to create a history and a culture for themselves.   After their wonderful performances in the early stages of the tournament, I just so hoped they could on and beat Germany.  It was not to be, but they still came off with their integrity in tact, a new found respect and their heads held high.

The Hosts, The Upsets, The Reasons
Korea's run captivated the world and it was truly appropriate that they not only came of age, but exceeded Japan's effort.  Japan are only at their second World Cup and it would have been a bitter pill to swallow for Korea had Japan, albeit with an easier draw, exceeded Korea's performances.  Especially so since football is more avidly followed in Korea and has a much deeper culture compared to the neophyte Japanese.   While both nations obtained European coaches to improve their tactical know how, Korea had the edge because they had a few more players based in Europe.

What really helped Korea, and other teams like Turkey and the USA, excel was preparation.  Korea spent almost 6 months virtually together, which created a sort of Club Korea.  With most of their team from one club (Galatasary), Turkey was another team that played more as a club than as your typical national team.  Also, fitness turned out to be a huge factor for Korea and Japan with their swarming style of quick breaking game, so too for the USA.  Even approaching 90 minutes, the USA were still getting forward whilst still getting back to double team Germany's attackers in defence.  Coaching was the final element to play an integral role in the tournament.  The fact that Korea's and the USA's coaches were the most impressive coaches of the tournament, confirms it.

By the way, those riots in Russia when Russia lost to Japan were not your typical soccer riots that the media so likes to, and did,  proclaim.  Few people know this, but Russia and Japan literally hate each other.  It goes back to almost 100 years when the Japanese sunk most of Russia's Baltic navy fleet.  Then post World War 2, Russia refused to give up various Japanese territories it annexed during the war.  Obviously Japan is still furious.  When you combine that with the fact that the rioters had been drinking for hours before the match, there's the explanation for you riots, not a lack of goals.  It is still amazing that the ignoramuses of this world still cite the lack of goals for inciting riots.  It's nonsense.  If Russia had lost 27-26, or if something like AFL was the world game and Russia lost in that, there still would have been riots.

Favourite Games
Most people say Senegal vs Uruguay, but unfortunately, I missed that game when I decided to see Attack Of The Clones for the sixth time.  With four matches on that day, I took the punt that this game between a team only needing a draw for the second phase and a team very defensive in their nature, would be the least interesting.  In hindsight, I should not have went to the flicks at all.  But if I was to miss some matches, the 9.30pm matches involving the potentially one-sided Ireland vs Saudi Arabia and Germany vs the disappointing Cameroon.

5) Uruguay vs France, 0-0 (Phase 1, Round 2)
Many would see this as a surprise considering it finished at 0-0, but after France lost their first game to Senegal, the onus was on them to beat Uruguay.  When Henry was red-carded, the match and France's destiny was then on the quintessential knife edge.  And when two Uruguayan fouls of more serious nature than Henry's failed to produce a red card you'd expect from a consistent referee, the match became macabre as one witnessed the probable disembowelment of the previous world champion's defence of their thrown.  Both teams had a great chances to score, and as each missed through poor shots or great defending, the drama intensified.  Towards the end, both teams resigned themselves to the draw in the hope of doing the necessary work in their final pool games.  For France, losing to Denmark 2-0 in that final game meant they were out in straight sets, and without scoring a goal.

As for Uruguay, they should have beaten Senegal in that third game after their amazing second half reversal.  How Morales missed that header, not even he will know.  Nor would Uruguayan coach Victor Pua, who mimicked Morales's actions in going for the header then showing the despair at the miss.  Unforgettable television.  But what is forgettable, is Uruguay's choice of those defensive and spoiling tactics that they so often employ.  They've shown against Senegal and the second leg qualifier against Australia that they can attack with great power, so why bottle it up so much.  With such players and attacking skill, it's surprising they could only scrape fifth spot in those South American qualifiers.   But given their tactics, it's not surprising.  They need to have more faith.

4) Brazil vs Turkey, 1-0 (Semi Final)
The knockout stages featured very few great games, and featured very few goals.  This was yet another 1-0 scoreline, but proved to be the most fluid of all the knockout games, and even most of the round robin games.  It had everything: end to end runs, heaps of shots, great defending and no refereeing errors.  The only downer was that Brazil won.

3) Korea vs Italy, 2-1 Extra Time (Quarter Final)
After the disappointing Japan vs Turkey game, where Japan seemed resigned to elimination, fears were that Korea's run may also end.  That was confirmed when Ahn missed an early penalty only for Vieri to score from a corner shortly after.  Unlike Japan, though, Korea remained calm, and worked hard with their runs forward and double teaming in defence.  However, Italy seemed to have them under control, which resulted in a forlorn hope of a Korean equaliser.  Then, out of nothing, the ball spilled free after an Italian defender was unsighted, and Korea capitalised.  In injury time, Korea had a chance to win when a strong bicycle from close range went straight to the goal keeper.  Then, at the other end, Vieri had the chance to score from a low cross after an Italian break.  But the ball bobbled just before contact and it skied over the bar after striking his shin.

Come extra time, Korea almost scored from a free kick when Buffon just managed to tip it around the post after it went under the wall, whilst Italy seemed content on penalties, especially once Totti was sent off.  They seemed inevitable as the tiring Koreans then began firing long crosses in that were easily defended.  With three minutes left, a Korean got forward down the wing, only to double back into a less favourable crossing position.  Just as I thought "not another one of these hopeful balls" as the ball crossed into the mix of players lining up, Ahn managed to greet the ball over the top of Maldini and stunningly score the winner.  Once the stacks-on celebrations finished, a surreal moment occurred when Ahn just wandered the pitch aimlessly and soaked up the applause.  For the most part, not an exciting match, but it had the most dramatic finale.  So much so, I rang my Mum immediately to discover she was in raptures also.

2) Portugal vs USA, 2-3 (Phase 1, Round 1)
Coming into this game, it was basically how long before Portugal scored.  But it was the US that scored first, then shock horror they got another one, albeit off a wicked deflection.  Then they got another, and the Portuguese were on the ropes.   While there was some element of luck with the deflected goal, truth is, the USA were tearing Portugal apart.  However, they Portugal scored just before the half from a corner scramble, meaning the second half was really game on.  The US defended wonderfully against wave after wave of Portuguese attacks so well so that most resulted in no meaningful attempts on goal.  They ran out 3-2 winners, with the second goal conceded via a shocking own goal by Jeff "What" Agoos.  As for Portugal, sure they put in a poor performance, but credit for the USA causing it and literally leaving them in tatters.

1) Slovenia vs Paraguay, 1-3 (Phase 1, Round 3)
Most would rate this match in the top two of the tournament, but considering the drama in this match, it would have to rate higher than Senegal vs Uruguay.  Paraguay had to win by two goals to qualify for the next phase, but went down 1-0 at half time.  Come the second half, they just seemed to give up and go through the motions.  However, once Cuevas was brought on for Paraguay in a last ditch effort to provide some spark, all hell broke lose.  His havoc saw him score twice, and Paraguay score the necessary third goal to deny South Africa - who were monitoring the match simultaneously - a spot in the second phase. 

As a footnote, whilst South Africa could count themselves unlucky, they were wrongfully awarded a penalty in their match against Paraguay to gain them that draw in the first game.  Clearly the referee missed the South African player diving, as the Paraguayan goalie Tavarelli (Chilavert was suspended for that first game) clearly withdrew from the challenge and made no contact.  Funny how it all works out in the end (sometimes!).

Favourite Goals
In seeking great goals, I've always been a fan of a good build-up rather than those one-in-a-million long range cracks and volleys that so often feature heavily in highlight reels.  Unfortunately, this World Cup did lack goals, both in quantity and quality.

5) Ronaldo (Brazil vs Turkey, Semi Final)
There were very few good individual goals with only Sweden's Henrik Larsson's goal against Nigeria comparable.  Larsson took on three players, and executed a wonderful dummy dribble to wrong foot the final defender to score.  Ronaldo's run was just as good, but his finish came from toe-poke, taken in his stride, that surprised the entire world, and especially the Turkish goalie, who could only parry it onto the inside of the post and into the goal.

4) Edmilson (Brazil vs Costa Rica, First Phase)
A scissor kick that completed off a thorough build-up.

3) Donovan (USA vs Mexico, Eighth Final)
In another of those wonderful quick breaks from midfield that the Americans so lethally used, O'Brien, just as Mexico lost the ball, made a deep run down the wing.   His Mexican marker could not keep up and once the ball was played to him, he sprinted further clear.  A lovely cross was sent, and then met by a charging Donovan at the far post.  Now that's how you punish mistakes.

2) Borghetti (Mexico vs Italy, First Phase)
Mexico were at their best in this game, controlling possession and tempo.   This amazing header finished off basically the slowest counter attack I've ever seeb!  It took fifteen passes and a solid minute or two before the goal came.

1) Diao (Senegal vs Denmark, First Phase)
In the only real fast flowing counter-attacking goal of the game, this goal was simply magical.

Finally
The TV coverage was excellent overall.  SBS's production was clearly superior to Channel 9's, especially since Ch 9 had little build-up to its games.  But neither channel saw fit to have a highlights show each night.  It was simply impossible to watch all matches, and it would have been nice to see more of those matches missed than just the goals scored.  A one hour show would have been enough, and was a common occurrence with past World Cups.  Suppose, this time, that was the one negative of having the game in our time zone, but even at midnight, it still would have been better than having nothing at all.  The World Cup show that started in the third week was a nice idea, but needed more football stories and interviews with teams and players in the Cup.  Les and Johnny did a good job, however, whilst Craig Foster, who starting out nervously, grew all too comfortable in the role and needed his giggling and poor diction reigned in.   He developed an annoying habit of dropping vowels, eg: "secon-arf" instead of "second half".  The show's segments were informative and most of their guests were good choices, except they were often not on long enough.  Maybe they needed to kill the all too frequent crosses to correspondents in Korea and Japan, which soon lost their value with repetitious reports on endless fan reactions.

The amazing thing about the TV coverage was the effect of the World Cup on the public.  That converted into monstrous coverage in all media, which culminated in headline news stories on Channel 9 for England's matches against Argentina and Brazil, Korea's run, and both the semi finals.  The final itself was the most watched sporting event nationwide since the Olympics.  Of the major cities specifically, only Melbourne saw it fail to reach that rank - it was eclipsed by last year's AFL Grand Final.  However, as the most watched show of the year, it ranked first all round.  It's just mind boggling what level the media coverage and TV ratings would have reached if Australia had qualified.

So the World Cup is over, but it's ramifications will linger long.  The poor refereeing has not only opened the call for video intervention, but also highlighted the need for proper enforcement of existing laws.  They may even require clarification to remove the subjectivity, or even the creation of new ones.  As for the next World Cup, in Germany, 2006, already regions are squabbling for more spots.  This must also be settled down once and for all.  Stay tuned for a feature where the Socceroo Realm will examine the fallout of the Korea/Japan 2002 and the ramifications for the game, the world, Australia and Oceania.

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