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First Asian finals brings new frontier
TOKYO (Reuters) -- There were the ticketing screw-ups, the dismal refereeing errors, the often mediocre football and the very mixed weather. But anyone who suggests Asia's first World Cup was a flop is probably missing the bigger picture of a tournament that, if the sceptics were to be believed, was a disaster waiting to happen. In the end, the hooligans and terrorists stayed at home and the formidable obstacles posed by hosting the 64-match tournament and its accompanying one million visitors in two countries with often rocky relations were overcome with no major hitches. Perhaps more importantly, the colourful enthusiasm for the sport in East Asia that the tournament tapped has gone a long way towards cementing soccer's place as the true world game. "It is the global game, it's come to Asia and it's succeeded. I think there's no doubt about that," said FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper. The spine-tingling sight of millions of South Koreans merging in a sea of red to will their team to the semi-final will now pass into the folklore of the World Cup, which had never previously been held outside Europe and the Americas. Just as impressive in their own way were the Japanese fans, who followed their team passionately to the second round, but were equally at home and just as good natured wearing the colours of England, Brazil or Senegal. "We have had a wonderful public -- the public has created in the stadia such a positive ambience that we have a lot of fair play between the players, between players and referees, between players and spectators," FIFA President Sepp Blatter said. Brazil may have beaten Germany in the final but if the old South American and European powers arrived in the Far East expecting to teach the Asian upstarts about football, they soon learned it would be a two-way street on and off the pitch. Japan and especially South Korea played havoc with European reputations as they advanced to the second round, providing some of the great upsets that made up for the lack of a truly classic game. FEVER COOLING? Soccer fever has already cooled in the baseball-loving host nations and the true test of success may only come in the years ahead as the sport tries to sink deeper roots. Critics say the fanatical support for Korea's Red Devils was more about nationalism than football, while the Japanese fans' fickle loyalties suggested a lack of true commitment. But the early signs are promising. The region is already pushing for an extra place in the 2006 World Cup, while South Korea President Kim Dae-jung has thrown his support behind plans to intensify soccer links with China and Japan. Time will also be the only test for the cities that spent millions of dollars on extravagant stadiums that may now be left idle. Japanese who cheered on the national team may not be as enthusiastic about the World Cup when they see their tax bill. Economists are doubtful that the tournament will have any benefits beyond the short-term influx of foreign visitors. SMOOTH RUNNING Nightmare visions of the two co-hosts letting their historical animosities intrude on the tournament never came to pass, despite spats in the World Cup run-up over textbooks and which country's name should come first. Cooper said rumours of discord between the two organisations had mainly been a media invention, characterising the cooperation as "brilliant." "Obviously from time to time they've disagreed....but in four years' time (at the World Cup finals in Germany) you're probably going to find that Hamburg is going to disagree with Frankfurt, or Stuttgart is going to disagree with Berlin about something or other." Ironically, the worst slanging match erupted not between Japan and South Korea, but between Japan and FIFA's British-based ticketing agent Byrom over the thousands of empty seats that marred some of the opening games and Japan's crucial second-round game against Turkey. FIFA hit back, blaming the co-host organising committees for not providing enough information about the 20 stadiums months before the kick-off. Other than that, the headlines were mostly made by events on the pitch -- the incredible shock results and the perennial problem of poor refereeing. Perhaps the biggest compliment for the first co-hosted World Cup is that it has helped open the way for future tournaments to be hosted by more than one country. As the World Cup gets bigger and grows beyond the budget of many countries, sharing could be the way forward for poorer nations who want to have their month in the limelight. "I don't think we should glibly say co-hosting is easy, that anyone can do it," said Cooper. "First of all the two co-hosting candidates have got to make sure they really get along with each other. But from a technical point of view, I think this has proved that it can be done." Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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