by Nick Holt
It was one of the greatest free-kicks in football history. I’m not being silly, the quality of the strike, given the situation and the pressure, was a quite outstanding display of skill and technique, worthy of Platini. It was Beckham’s finest moment and confirmed his elevation from pantomime villain in 1998 to national hero in 2001.
Then came the metatarsal moment. A few weeks before the tournament England’s superstar broke a bone on the top of his foot. He underwent some serious surgery and recuperation and was passed fit to travel; but just how fit was he?
Finals
Argentina were most people’s favourites for the title, along with Italy, maybe Spain (always maybe Spain and always disappointment). The holders France had most of the same team, as did Croatia, and if Owen played well and Beckham’s foot was okay, then England couldn’t be discounted at their best. Surely Brazil and Germany? Not this time, they just didn’t have the players. Or so went the general opinion of almost every scribe and TV pundit in the land.
WORLD CUP SHOCK No.12
31 May 2002, Seoul World Cup Stadium, 62,561
Referee: Ali Mohammed Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)
Coaches: Roger Lemerre (France) & Bruno Metsu (Senegal)
France (1–4–3–2): Fabien Barthez (Manchester United); Lilian Thuram (Juventus), Marcel Desailly (Cpt, Chelsea)), Frank Leboeuf (Olympique de Marseille*), Bixente Lizarazu (Bayern Munich); Sylvain Wiltord (Arsenal), Emmanuel Petit (Chelsea), Patrick Vieira (Arsenal), Youri Djorkaeff (Bolton Wanderers); David Trezeguet (Juventus), Thierry Henry (Arsenal). Subs: Christophe Dugarry (Bordeaux) 60m for Djorkaeff; Djibril Cissé (Auxerre) 81m for Wiltord
Senegal (4–1–4–1): Tony Sylva (Monaco); Ferdinand Coly (Lens), Pape Malick Diop (Lorient), Lamine Diatta (Rennes), Omar Daf (Sochaux); Aliou Cissé (Cpt, Montpelier); Moussa N’Diaye (Sedan), Salif Diao (Sedan), Pape Bouba Diop (Lens) Khalilou Fadiga (Auxerre); El Hadji† Diouf (Lens)
Cautioned: Petit (Fra) 47m, Cissé (Sen) 51m
What a start to the tournament. Just as in 1990, when Argentina came a cropper, an African team upset the holders’ welcome party.
Senegal won this because they got their tactics spot on. They knew France, without Zidane, would struggle to make clear chances for their forwards if they stifled the midfield, so they did just that, positioning their captain, Cissé, just behind a four-man midfield with instructions to defend first and worry about scoring later.
But not too much later. Diouf, who was a thorn in the French defence’s side all afternoon, beat Leboeuf for pace down the left and crossed. There was no obvious danger, but, in trying to clear, Manu Petit only kicked the ball against his own goalkeeper. Barthez, surprised, could do nothing with it and Bouba Diop said thanks very much and tapped it into the goal.
France tried their hardest – that accusation was levelled at them but was unfair – and yet couldn’t create clear opportunities let alone good ones. Fadiga nearly doubled Senegal’s lead, but his shot clattered the crossbar – he could hit a ball really hard, and minutes later France came closest to a goal when Henry’s shot also hit the woodwork.
Coly and Daf blocked the channels, and France didn’t have the aerial threat to trouble the central defenders; far from a rousing backs-to-the-wall performance, Senegal were coasting towards the end. They were fit too, they didn’t use any substitutes in the heat.
France had problems. They had brought Zidane, but hadn’t intended to use him in the group stage. Djorkaeff was supposed to provide the guile (he had spent the last season at Bolton on loan and done well enough to force his way back into the squad) but he was a support act and struggled to impose himself on difficult games. Vieira was a wonderful athlete and imposing presence, but he couldn’t do it all, and he got precious little from Wiltord or Petit. Henry tried but didn’t see enough of the ball, and Trezeguet was anonymous.
Senegal looked a genuinely good side, not just a minnow having its day; Denmark and Uruguay would do well not to take them lightly.
GROUP A
Jon Dahl Tomasson confirmed his improvement to watching English fans with both Denmark goals in a win over Uruguay. Chelsea fans, used to speed and a disappointing end product from Jesper Gronkjaer, would have been astonished at his precise cross for the first. Uruguay’s equaliser was special. Two men were hovering on the edge of the box when a corner was cleared; one of them, García juggled the ball and flipped it to his mate, Rodríguez, who volleyed it handsomely in at the near post. Denmark deserved their win though.
France should have been out after two games. Henry was sent off for a dangerous late tackle – some English TV guys defended him but it was a definite red card. Uruguay didn’t really take advantage – their Internazionale star Álvaro Recoba, did little to justify his reputation.
Senegal produced more of the same against Denmark in a physical encounter. Their full-backs were excellent again, and negated Jørgensen and Rommedahl, the speedy Danish wingers. Salif Diao contributed a well-deserved equaliser and a red card for a nasty studs-up tackle. The two shaven-headed Danish midfielders, Stig Tøfting and Thomas Gravesen didn’t flinch in the face of the rough stuff and handed out their fair share in return.
Denmark beating France and knocking them out was no longer a surprise. Zidane came back but with this much bite in the Denmark midfield he would have struggled even if fully fit. Wiltord had another shocker and Trezeguet vanished after hitting the bar early on. Rommedahl volleyed in after twenty minutes and Tomasson bullied Desailly off the ball to score the second – he wouldn’t have done that four years earlier, but he looked the business here, strong and full of thoughtful running and always looking like he would take the chances if they came his way.
The fun was happening over in Suwon, where Senegal ran up a three-goal lead against Uruguay with two more goals from Bouba Diop and a penalty after a preposterous dive from Diouf. Had he done that a few years later when his reputation went before him he would have been yellow carded and laughed at, but he got a decision from the Dutch referee. Pua, the Uruguay coach, sent on two fresh attackers at half-time and got an instant response. Recoba woke up, sending in Silva from the kick-off. His shot was saved but Morales, on the pitch for less than a minute, scored with his first touch. Forlán, the other substitute – a position with which he was familiar having warmed the bench throughout his first season at Manchester United – then cracked home a fine volley. Senegal were panicking and it was hard to keep up with the yellow card count. Amazingly no one was asked to leave the field, although another yellow card for diving would have been the right response to a tumble by Morales, but the referee gave a penalty instead. How even-handed of him. Senegal just about held out, but by now they had a stack of players with yellow cards to their name.
GROUP B
Spain won a really weak group at a canter without looking an exceptional team. The established guys were good but they had no one new and exciting to convince they were going to change their habit of doing well early and then going out in the last sixteen or last eight.
Paraguay did well in their last match, beating Slovenia despite playing with ten men for seventy minutes. Slovenia were awful – their big player, Zahovic, had a shocker against Spain, was taken off and then sent home for firing a volley of choicest Slovenian insults at the coach. South Africa were out of their depth – their big player, Benni McCarthy, should just have been sent home for being a waste of space; more buffoon buffoon than bafana bafana.
GROUP C
Turkey gave Brazil a wake-up call in their opening game. Brazil had plenty of opportunities, and Ronaldinho showed why he was being touted as the next big thing for Brazil. Ronaldo, a bit chubby but still a natural goalscorer, converted Rivaldo’s cross, and Rivaldo’s left foot saw to the penalty after Alpay was red carded for a professional foul. Popular opinion said the game showed how poor this Brazilian team was; hindsight tells us Turkey were better than Brazil and the experts had believed.
FIFA made a big noise about clamping down on simul
ation before the tournament. Simulation, by the way, is FIFA-speak for cheating. This match set the tone for the tournament. In the closing minutes Rivaldo won a corner on the right. The defender Hakan Ünsal kicked the ball towards the Brazilian with the merest hint of aggression and a huge amount of get on with it, pal, and stop time-wasting. The ball hit Rivaldo’s leg and he went down as if poleaxed, clutching his face. The referee sent off the Turkish defender while a linesman, who was a few feet away, said nothing. FIFA, with the benefit of a TV replay, fined Rivaldo £5,000. Had they given the cheating so-and-so a two-match ban the game would be a better product now than it is. But it was FIFA, and they blew it.
Turkey were poor in their second game, and allowed Costa Rica to sneak a late equaliser, which left the Turks needing a favour from Brazil so they could go through on goal difference. They got it, Brazil beat China and Costa Rica with something to spare and their stars all got a goal or two to get them going; even one of Roberto Carlos’s free-kicks went in the goal instead of the further reaches of the stand behind it. Turkey beat China easily to confirm their place – but it was another dull first phase group, the first game excepted. Even watching Brazil is unexciting if the opposition are as supine as China and Costa Rica. It sounds harsh, but in the World Cup you’re playing with the big boys so you have to come up with a plan to match them and try and neutralise them and give yourselves a chance, however small. China couldn’t do that; they had a vastly experienced coach (the ubiquitous Milutinovic) but no players good enough to create openings and no defenders who could match quality strikers like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Hasan Şaş, the scary-looking Turkish left-sided attacker. I discount Şükür, my mum could have marked him in this form. He only kept his place because he was an icon in Istanbul and Günes, the coach may have been lynched if he’d left him out.
GROUP D
This was more like it, a bit of controversy, a few goals, one of the better sides getting turned over. That’s what the World Cup is about, not shooting practice against sides who wouldn’t beat your third XI.
South Korea took Poland apart. They were unworried by the heat – they were phenomenally fit, as well as accustomed to the climate – and the Poles were a big, slow team, perfect opposition for the lively Koreans, who preferred ninety minutes of helter skelter. Their top scorer, Hwang Sun-hong was thirty-three now, but he got their first goal with a near-post volley. His replacement Ahn Jung-hwan, looked sharper still, and came close twice. The second goal was one man’s work as Yoo Sang-chul drifted through Kaluzny and Waldoch and cracked a fierce shot in by the post. Great start for the hosts, and great support from a sea of red in the stands – the Koreans had given away enough replica shirts to fill Seoul.
A day later in Suwon the group had an upside down look after the USA beat Portugal. The Portuguese, gifted players all, just didn’t look like a team. With only half an hour gone Figo was shouting at his colleagues to get him some possession, while Pauleta made run after run only to watch his wide players try and beat a man and lose the ball. McBride’s strength in the air gave USA their advantage; his header was saved by Baia and knocked in by O’Brien for the opener. The USA so unnerved the Portuguese defence on high balls that Jorge Costa didn’t look where his header was going and he put it in his own net. McBride added a third with a cleverly controlled header off balance.
Beto got one back after a poor clearance and Agoos hacked into his own net in the second half, but the Portuguese ran out of ideas, and Donovan and Beasley both had chances to extend the Americans’ lead.
Against the USA, Ahn replaced Hwang to good purpose again, heading the equalising goal after Lee Eul-yung missed his chance from the penalty spot. Portugal took out their frustration on a lousy Polish side. Pauleta helped himself to a good hat-trick and Rui Costa, awful in the first match and left out from the start, came on and scored the fourth.
Poland beating the USA would have been a result most people predicted before the tournament, but after the events of the previous ten days it almost qualified as a shock. Two goals in the first five minutes finished the game – the USA weren’t so clever at chasing when they went behind.
In Incheon, Portugal made life very difficult for themselves with some shocking indiscipline. João Pinto got his marching orders for a wild two-footed lunge on Park Ji-sung and the rest of the team surrounded the referee for a full five minutes. Fernando Couto actually had the ref’s face in his hands but somehow managed to stay on the pitch. Today he would have been given a massive ban after the match and deserved it. After sixty-five minutes Portugal were down to nine when Beto tripped Lee Yung-pyo and received a second yellow. Again the referee had little option.
Had the nine men held on they would have scraped through with Poland’s help, but Park Ji-sung administered the coup de grace with a brilliant finish. Lee Yong-pyo’s cross came to him high up beyond the far post; he chested the ball down, volleyed it to the left of Conceição with his right foot as it dropped and hit it on the volley again, with his left foot this time, hard and low past Baia. The benefit of two-footed players – great goal. Portugal, fractious and over-rated, weren’t mourned.
GROUP E
Ireland had a bit of baggage to deal with before the tournament even started. Their training facilities were second rate and the hotel a bit shabby, so Roy Keane kicked up about it to a journalist and was taken to task by Mick McCarthy, the manager. So far, no big deal; Keane had a right to moan, but not to the press – the Irish FA are cheapskates and always short change their players. McCarthy, for his part, knew there was nothing he could do about the facilities at that stage and didn’t want Keane rocking the boat.
Keane did more than rock the boat, he damn near sank it. Instead of dealing with the matter quietly Keane bawled his manager out with a foul-mouthed tirade, making reference to the fact that he didn’t think McCarthy was a genuine Irishman and that he was a crap player and a crap manager (only the first was true). To cut the rest of the story short, Keane went home and Ireland had lost their best player. The pair buried the hatchet a few years later when they were forced to meet as managers of clubs in the same division.
We talked about having a plan to combat sides with better players. Clearly no one talked to Saudi Arabia about it, they got annihilated by the Germans. The Polish-born Kaiserslautern striker Miroslav Klose got a hat-trick of headers and . . . oh, I can’t be bothered, it was a turkey shoot. They were better against Cameroon and Ireland – or maybe Cameroon and Ireland just weren’t as potent as Germany – but still lost all three and failed to score.
Against Cameroon in their opener, the Irish had a bit of a hangover from the incident, and were poor in the first half. An early goal in the second half settled them, and they could have won it towards the end. Matt Holland, on whom Ireland were now depending as a midfield general, scored with a fine low shot.
Ireland struggled against Germany, who looked solid but unspectacular, and the new star Klose scored with yet another header. Damien Duff had Ireland’s best effort but it brought a great save out of Oliver Kahn. The equaliser was a throw-back to Jack Charlton’s tactics; Steve Finnan launched a long ball towards the gangling Niall Quinn – thirty-five now and used as a sub, but a much better player than he was at twenty-five. Quinn got some head on it, and the ball fell nicely for Robbie Keane, who chested it down and smashed it straight through Kahn, who did well to get a glove on it but couldn’t keep it out.
Ireland knew that even though they lay third in the group, if they beat Saudi Arabia by two or more goals they were through whatever the result in Shizuoka. It was a laborious performance but they got the job done; McCarthy puffed out his cheeks in relief as Damien Duff scored the third goal that meant a sneaky breakaway from the Saudis was meaningless. As it happened, any win would have sufficed as Germany beat Cameroon (very disappointing) with two second half goals. It was a rough-house affair that left Germany with a lot of players on a yellow card, among them their captain and goalkeeper, Kahn, and their best creati
ve player, Michael Ballack. Ziege, Hamann, who had been excellent so far and Ramelow (sent off against Cameroon) would all miss the next match.
GROUP F
This was a scandalous group. All four of these sides would have qualified from any of the other groups – it was born of making the draw based on geography rather than competence. Argentina looked good in their first match, keeping the ball superbly against Nigeria, with Verón outstanding, in direct contrast to his struggles in the Premier League – they weren’t all of his managers’ making, as some suggest, he found the tempo difficult. The Argentinian full-backs, Sorin and Zanetti, were especially threatening, as Argentina’s dominance of the midfield sucked in Nigeria’s wide players and left room down the flanks. Batistuta converted the third of three good opportunities he was handed from crosses.
