For the first time, the 2002 World Cup was organized by two countries, South Korea and Japan, and crowned Brazil as the winner of its fifth World Cup tournament. The competition also marked the triumphal return of Ronaldo who, in the four years prior to the World Cup, had suffered two severe injuries and sought revenge for what had happened in the final of France ‘98.
Coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian team received much criticism from the press of their country, because of their dull and strong play to cover the opponents. The team, however, found their play so much so that they were called "Felipao Family " due to the coach’s union with the group.
The final recorded the first encounter between Brazil and Germany in World Cup history. Ronaldo scored two goals, one of them after the goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, chosen as the best player of the tournament, had missed the ball. The Brazilians won their fifth World Cup tournament and Felipao’s style became world known.
Ronaldo was the best goal scorer of the competition, with eight goals, and the captain Cafu became the first player to take part in three successive World Cup finals.
The 2002 World Cup also marked the downfall of three traditional teams. France, the current champion and Argentina, which had performed extraordinarily in the preliminaries, were disqualified in the first round, apart from Portugal, which was again playing a World Cup after 16 years.
The nice surprises came from Senegal, with their offensive soccer and an excellent forward player, El Hadji-Diouf, and from Paraguay, with their best defense led by Gamarra. Even the host countries made excellent campaigns. Japan and South Korea ended up in their groups. The former was defeated in the round of sixteen by Turkey. The Koreans, with much help from the referees, left Italy and Spain out of the tournament and only lost with Germany, in semi-finals.
|
