Mammoth Book of the World Cup
Page 69
QUARTER-FINALS
* Kelly was Harte’s uncle.
† golden goal
Just before half-time in Shizuoka, the Brazilian centre-back Roque Júnior cleverly dragged back the ball before it could go over the line. He found Ronaldinho, who skipped a weak challenge from Scholes and sold Ashley Cole a dummy that allowed him to play in Ronaldo, who scored easily – he could still finish, it was the other stuff like running and jumping that he found a bit much.
Five minutes after the break, England, still a bit shell-shocked, gave away a free-kick wide out of the left about forty-five yards from goal. Ronaldinho beat Seaman with a huge up-and-under – the England goalkeeper had previous against Nayim of Real Zaragoza in the 1995 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final. England barely had another shot at goal and Sven made horrible substitutions again. (I don’t care how tired Owen was, even with one leg sawn off he was better than Darius Vassell.) Even after Ronaldinho was sent off (he received much misplaced sympathy for a nasty challenge, for some reason) England just didn’t get at their opponents. Cafú and Roberto Carlos were both better attackers than defenders but England never got at them, and Eriksson didn’t use Joe Cole, the one player in the squad who knew how to beat a man.
Before that it was a cakewalk. England kept possession well, Beckham seemed less fragile than in the previous games and was stopping Roberto Carlos from raiding down the left, and Owen looked like he had the beating of the Brazilian backs. Owen’s goal was a little fortunate – he wouldn’t have reached Heskey’s pass but for an inadvertent knock-on from Lúcio. It’s about the only error I remember the big central defender making all tournament.
A few months earlier it seemed highly unlikely that Germany would go deeper into the tournament than England. They had a tricky time of it against the USA and were grateful to Kahn for two great first half saves from Landon Donovan after the striker got behind a sluggish back line. Michael Ballack stole into the box to score with a firm header from Ziege’s swinging cross. Klose should have added a second a couple of minutes later but he headed against a post with the goal gaping.
In the second half Eddie Lewis had a free header from Reyna’s corner but Kahn half stopped it. The ball squirmed under his body and bounced up to hit Torsten Frings’ arm on the line. The referee consulted the linesman and said no penalty. It was a brave decision and technically correct as Frings’ arm was never raised and the ball moved towards him not vice versa. Most refs would have given the penalty; does that make them or Hugh Dallas right? In the dying moments Mathis (no relation to Johnny) crossed from the right and Tony Sanneh smacked a header just the wrong side of the post. Tough on the States, who were the better team on the day, but typically resilient of Germany.
South Korea produced more of their thing against Spain, running and running and tackling and tackling. Fernando Morientes had a goal disallowed in extra-time because Joaquin was ruled to have carried the ball over the line before he crossed it; a really bad decision, although the referee’s whistle can clearly be heard before Morientes heads the ball.
Joaquin was man of the match in most of the papers, but his final ball apart from this one was not accurate enough and on at least three occasions he took a pot-shot with his head down instead of passing to a better positioned colleague. And his penalty in the shoot-out was awful. Ahn was brave to take one on after the miss against Italy, and he scored, and a young Spanish midfielder with three caps plus a couple of substitute appearances stepped up to take one, and he also scored. A warm World Cup welcome, please, for Señor Xavi Hernández, ladies and gentlemen. The final kick went to Hong Myung-bo, the captain.
The man of the match, by the way, wasn’t Joaquin, it was Korea’s goalkeeper, Lee Woon-jae, who was colossal here, and had a really excellent tournament. The standard of goalkeeping was a feature of this World Cup; Kahn, Buffon, Casillas, Rüstü, Friedel, Given and Lee were all top class, as was David Seaman, his horror moment apart. Even Brazil had a good goalkeeper; Marcos only won twenty-nine caps but he looked pretty good here. He nearly signed for Arsenal after the tournament, but opted to stay with Palmeiras, who had just been relegated; he never left, playing for the one club for his entire twenty-year career. I do love a one-club player.
Turkey against Senegal was another non-event (unless you happen to be Turkish or Senegalese, of course, in which case seeing your country become the first team from Asia (sort of) or Africa (definitely) to reach a World Cup semi-final was a huge thing). Turkey dominated possession and Alpay and Bülent and Ergün dealt with Diouf and Camara better than anyone else so far. The Besiktas midfielder Ilhan scored the Golden Goal from a corner, flicking the ball cleverly across Sylva and into the far side of the goal. Before that most of Turkey’s best chances fell to Hakan Şükür, who was an embarrassment.
SEMI-FINALS
THIRD-PLACE MATCH
Two really boring semi-finals were settled by a solitary goal. South Korea’s thing didn’t work against Germany, who weren’t fazed by the scurrying and tackling and didn’t get wound up by the odd decision going against them. Amazing what you can do by starting the game without conspiracy theories racing around in the head.
Korea couldn’t do much about Ballack’s goal; it was a class finish after a great initial save from Lee. Kahn also made a couple of decent saves and generally looked impregnable. Germany’s new superstar Klose had a poor game for once, well policed by Hong and company, who did well to cut off the supply of crosses.
The other significant moment also involved Ballack; he picked up a yellow card that would keep him out of the final. No Gazza tears, he just rolled up his sleeves and made sure his colleagues were there for him to watch – impressively professional.
Turkey were really disappointing in their match against Brazil – they gave them a much tougher game in the group stage. Ronaldinho was suspended after his red card against England, Kléberson offered little as his replacement and Ronaldo was in and out of the game again. His goal was a toe-poke, which sneaked guiltily past the goalkeeper in a cluttered penalty box.
Şükür nicked a goal his miserable contribution didn’t merit in the third-place match, and with it a place in the record books for the fastest ever goal in the Finals, as Ilhan robbed Hong and fed the striker a few yards out. It was still a surprise when he hit the target. The game was entertaining, in a park game sort of way. Neither of the third or fourth placed teams will reach the semi-finals again anytime soon.
World Cup Heroes No.31
Hong Myung-bo (1969–)
South Korea
Hong Myung-bo received high praise for his performances in the 2002 competition. Fine, some of the awards – third-best player in the tournament – were a nod to the co-hosts, but he had not looked out of place amongst the world’s best defenders.
Hong first played in the World Cup in 1990 in Italy, but Korea looked a poor side and went home without winning a game. Four years later Hong and the Koreans were back, and he got some attention with his sweeping passes out of defence and his goalscoring. He scored with a deflected free-kick in the comeback against Spain, and hit a rising twenty-five-yarder past Bodo Illgner in the next match, but Korea still came home early. 1998 was a step backwards and critics predicted embarrassment for both host nations in 2002.
Korea were a revelation. They had some better, younger players and a clever coach in the Dutchman, Guus Hiddink. Using Hong as part of a three-man defence with wing-backs meant his lack of pace wasn’t exposed and it also left him free to step out and start attacks with his clever distribution. Korea conceded only three goals in six meaningful games. Hong, the team captain, kept his nerve in the penalty shoot-out against Spain, hitting his penalty high into Casillas’ goal to eliminate the Spanish.
He retired immediately after the tournament, with a record 136 caps to his name, a total which Korea’s excellent goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae came within four of before he also retired in 2010.
Hong played all his domestic football in Korea, unlike Ahn, P
ark and other high-profile Korean players. He remains one of Asia’s greatest players, the only one in a list of players with fifteen or more World Cup appearances.
Hong studied for his coaching badges, and after some success with the Korean U-20 team he was appointed, in 2013, to the task of leading the full national team to the 2014 Finals. It seems highly unlikely they will emulate the class of 2014, but at least Hong knows what it takes to compete in a World Cup.
Korea is a long way away, and we know little of public opinion or their domestic game. In Korea, this man is held in the esteem in which Bobby Moore is held in England, or Beckenbauer in Germany.
WORLD CUP FINAL No.17
30 June 2002, International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan, 69,029
Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
Coaches: Luis Felipe Scolari (Brazil) &Rudi Völler (Germany)
Brazil (4–4–1–1): Marcos Silveira (Palmeiras); Marcos Evangelista, known as Cafú (Cpt, Roma), José Roque Júnior (AC Milan), Lucimar da Silva, known as Lúcio (Bayer Leverkusen), Roberto Carlos da Silva (Real Madrid); José Kléberson (Atlético Paranaense), José Edmilson Gomes (Lyon), Gilberto Silva (Atlético Mineiro), Rivaldo Borba (Barcelona); Ronaldo de Assis, known as Ronaldinho (Paris St Germain); Ronaldo Nazário Lima (Internazionale). Subs: Osvaldo Júnior, known as Juninho Paulista (Flamengo) 85m for Ronaldinho; Denilson de Oliveira Araújo (Real Betis) 89m for Ronaldo
Germany (3–4–1–2): Oliver Kahn (Cpt, Bayern Munich); Thomas Linke (Bayern), Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund), Carsten Ramelow (Bayer Leverkusen); Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Jens Jeremies (Bayern), Didi Hamann (Liverpool), Marco Bode (Bremen); Bernd Schneider (Leverkusen); Oliver Neuville (Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (Kaiserslautern).
Subs: Oliver Bierhoff (Monaco) 74m for Klose; Gerald Asamoah (Schalke 04) 77m for Jeremies; Christian Ziege (Tottenham Hotspur) 84m for Bode
Cautioned: Roque Júnior (Bra) 5m, Klose (Ger) 9m
Without Ballack, Germany had little to offer but sweat and toil. They made sure they sweated and it was Brazil who toiled in the first half. Schneider got round the back of Roberto Carlos twice and got in excellent crosses, while Neuville’s movement stretched even these great Brazilian centre-backs, but Klose didn’t have the tools at this stage in his career to worry Lúcio. The closest Germany came to a goal was a long-range effort that nearly caught Marcos unawares – to be fair, he probably didn’t expect Neuville to shoot from out near the halfway line!
With Hamann and Bode helping shield the defence with great determination, Brazil didn’t offer much either, until they woke up a bit after half-time. The shame was that the final swung on an error by Germany’s captain and best player. Oliver Kahn had been really superb until now, offering a massive presence behind a defence that played well beyond its level. Rivaldo hit a shot straight at him, probably one of the tamest he hit all tournament, and Kahn covered it easily, only for the ball to wriggle out his grasp and squirt out to Ronaldo, who couldn’t miss. Germany only had twenty minutes or so to come back, and with ten minutes left it was a hopeless cause as Ronaldo scored a second from Kléberson’s cross, after Rivaldo unselfishly let it run.
Some redemption for Ronaldo, then, after the trauma of the 1998 final. Despite never looking fully fit throughout the tournament – though he did slim down a little during the month – and disappearing from large portion of matches, he managed to finish as top scorer and, more importantly, with a World Cup Winner’s medal. How he was judged to have been the tournament’s second-best player is anyone’s guess. His colleagues worked overtime to compensate for his meagre contribution outside the penalty area. How he was judged ta. A word of praise here for the coach. Scolari cleverly picked two workhorses in midfield; if you need to carry a big heavy gun to break down the city walls, you need a few elephants.
World Cup Heroes No.32
Oliver Kahn (1969–)
Germany
They don’t like Bayern Munich except in Munich; even Germans don’t like Bayern Munich. It’s like the English with Manchester United in the last twenty years. If you have half a brain and a feel for football, you tend to respect them without actually liking them. The same is true with Bayern; other fans in Germany grudgingly accept they are the country’s best team but resent their supremacy.
It’s the same with Bayern players. When they play for Germany they have to show they are worth their place much more emphatically than a player from, say, Leverkusen or Schalke 04 would. So for Oliver Kahn to earn the respect of the German fans he had to be über good. Kahn was. It took him some time and every tiny mistake was amplified, just as every misplaced pass David Beckham made was seized upon by his detractors in England.
By the time the 2002 World Cup came round Kahn was the best goalkeeper in the world, and that in the face of some stiff competition; Gianluigi Buffon was (is) a superb ’keeper and Iker Casillas a supreme shot-stopper. Kahn’s mistake in the final is what everyone remembers – but all these goalkeepers made a mistake or two in the competition. And neither Buffon, nor Casillas, nor Brad Friedel nor any of the others got their team to the final almost on personal effort and willpower alone. Whenever Germany were under pressure, in the game against Paraguay, against the United States especially and against South Korea in the semi-final, Kahn dug them out of it with a crucial save, or gave them belief with a great catch to end a good spell from the opposition.
Kahn signed for Bayern from his home-town club of Karlsruher in 1994 and stayed until he was nearly forty, playing over 500 games. He won eight Bundesliga titles, a UEFA Cup and the Champions League in 2001, when he made three saves during the penalty shoot-out against Valencia. For Germany he played in three World Cups and two European Championships but never played in a winning team; he was the reserve ’keeper behind Andreas Köpke at the 1996 European Championships.
At six foot two Kahn was just normally tall for a goalkeeper, but he was big and heavily muscled, as well as surprisingly quick and presented a formidable obstacle when strikers were one on one. His build made him difficult to challenge on high balls, and he was a noisy, demanding presence behind his defence. If there was a weakness he was perhaps a little less elastic than one or two more classical goalkeepers – Buffon, for example, or Barthez, such a great shot-stopper but not in the same class as Kahn overall.
Kahn played for Germany for another four years – he didn’t want to miss the World Cup in his own country, although he was the number two to Jens Lehmann in that tournament. Kahn retired after that competition with eighty-six caps after playing in the third-place match as team captain.
Team of the Tournament, 2002:
Kahn (Germany)
Hong (South Korea) Lúcio (Brazil) Ferdinand (England)
Ronaldinho (Brazil) Tugay (Turkey) Ballack (Germany) Rivaldo (Brazil)
Diouf (Senegal) Ronaldo (Brazil) Şaş (Turkey)
Subs: Lee (South Korea); Hierro (Spain);
Schneider (Germany); Edmilson (Brazil); Vieri (Italy)
Official Team of the Tournament: Rüstü was the second goalie, with Campbell at the back not Ferdinand, and Alpay and Roberto Carlos (oh, please) at the back instead of Lúcio. They included Yoo of Korea and Reyna of the USA in midfield, not Tugay or Edmilson or Schneider, and had Klose instead of Vieri as the fourth striker – he scored three of his goals against Saudi Arabia and was marked out of the semi and the final.
Leading scorers: Ronaldo 7, Klose &Rivaldo 5
Heaven Eleven No.14
Rest of the World (Continental Africa,
North &Central America, Asia and Oceania)
Manager:
Bora Milutinovic (he managed most of them)
Goalkeepers:
Brad Friedel (USA): great career, looks like Bruce Willis
Thomas N’Kono (Cameroon): consistent long-serving goalie
Lee Woon-jae (South Korea): stunning at the 2002 World Cup and won over 130 caps
Defenders:
Hong Myung-bo (South Korea): major influence in th
eir success in the 1990s and early 2000s
Rafael Márquez (Mexico): hard man at Barcelona
Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi (Saudi Arabia): attacking right-back in the best side they had
Sami Khuffour (Ghana): held down a place at Bayern for years
Lucas Radebe (South Africa): South Africa’s best-ever player
Geremi (Cameroon): left-sided defender or midfielder, tough and had a terrific shot
Marcelo Balboa (USA): great hair, great tackler
Midfield &Wide:
Majed Abdullah (Saudi Arabia): gifted playmaker, was getting on by the time some good colleagues came along
Cha Bum-kun (South Korea): super sharp, but a star before the rest came along, was a regular first teamer at Eintracht Frankfurt and Leverkusen
Ali Parvin (Iran): Iran’s best player, an aggressive little Billy Bremner type
Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan): technically gifted and brilliant at set pieces
Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast): awesome athlete, a really big player in every sense
Michael Essien (Ghana): before his injury he was immense – equally at home in defence
Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria): the trickster, a complete bag of tricks and set-piece wiz
Forwards:
Enrique Borja (Mexico): Mexico’s best in the ’60s, a real livewire
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast): powerful and effective, has an appetite for the big games
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon): sharp, lethal, ultra-quick