This is the first World Cup in the 21st century, the first time being held on the Asian continent with two co-hosts: South Korea and Japan. One thing I love about this World Cup is being able to watch matches in the afternoon, evening and early evening.
So we Indonesians don’t need to stay up late. Something new, so far we have only been able to watch world-class football late at night until the early hours of the morning because it is held in Europe and America. Now it’s the turn of the Europeans and Americans who have to stay up late.
With the match taking place in the middle of Indonesian working hours, the feel of the Korea-Japan World Cup was completely different. It was reported that several agendas and regular meetings, both government and private, which had been scheduled, had to be postponed if they coincided with the World Cup matches involving favorite countries.
The 2002 World Cup also coincided with the agenda for the final semester exams for students, including me. I have to figure out how to still be able to face the test well without missing the World Cup matches. Some time I watched on campus with the academic community of bal-balan fans. Students, lecturers, staff, leaders, to campus security officers, all were boisterous at the football party, even though they did not support the Indonesian national team.
Back in the tournament, what was the most memorable moment at the 2002 World Cup? In my personal opinion, actually in terms of quality, the 2002 World Cup was not as good as the 1998 World Cup. A number of matches took place without high intensity and full of tension, far from expectations, especially the preliminary round.
Many top players did not perform optimally because they were physically exhausted in domestic competitions and also in the Champions League (at that time the Champions League format used two stages of the group phase before the knockout phase-quarter-finals).
The most obvious was Zinedine Zidane, who had to be forced to play despite suffering a thigh injury, as the defending champions France lifted the suitcase early. Les Bleus did not win a single victory and even worse was unable to score a goal from the three matches they played against Senegal, Uruguay and Denmark in group A.
As far as I remember, the strong favorite of the main seed is Argentina. Coach Marcelo Bielsa brought Argentine players above the average of the other contestants. From the depths of the squad from the back line to the front line, Abiceleste is the most classy.
Just to mention the names of Gabriel Batistuta, Hernan Crespo, Javier Zanetti, Walter Samuel, Juan Veron, Diego Simeone, Ariel Ortega, and Roberto Ayala, and Maurichio Pochetino. Pandit called Argentina’s best team since the Maradona era ended. Instead of being champions, Argentina were eliminated in the group round of hell, which was inhabited by England, Sweden and Nigeria.
In fact, Brazil, who was not seeded this time, succeeded in becoming the 5th champion, Penta. In the final the samba team destroyed the German panzers, who were also not among the favorites of this tournament, with a 2-0 score that was bought by the phenomenon Ronaldo Nazario. Ronaldo with a curly hairstyle, atone for the sins of the previous four years.
One unforgettable moment was the phenomenon of South Korea which managed to penetrate the semifinals before being stopped by Germany, who played like a panzer, slowly but destroying it. South Korea has competed in four World Cup tournaments since 1986, not even having recorded a victory, until finally they were able to beat Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain in one World Cup.
Despite accusations of cheating as the host, South Korea, coached by Guus Hiddink, did display entertaining attacking football. The South Korean players also never give up, the physical strength of the Taeguk Warriors seems to exceed the limits of human physical abilities.
South Korea’s match against Italy in the round of 16 was the most memorable. Maybe by chance, I watched this party in the middle of the Java Strait, on the deck of KM Pelni Bukit Siguntang, which sailed from the Tanjung Emas port of Semarang to the Soekarno-Hatta port, Makassar. As a Serie A fan, I certainly favor Italy. As is known, South Korea won 2-1 through Park Seoul and Anh Jun-Hwan’s golden goal.
Not yet finished, the match continues to the realm of politics and law. Ahn Jung-Hwan, sacked by Luciano Gaucci, the boss of club owner Perugia, who does not accept Ahn humiliating his country, Italy. The superficiality of Gaucci’s attitude This then became a joke, even for Italian football itself.
For the Italians, it is not Ahn who is the number one enemy, but the figure of a sad-eyed man from the country of Ecuador, he is Byron Moreno. Moreno, the referee was accused of being the most responsible for the elimination of Italy. At least three of Moreno’s big decisions at that time could have changed the outcome of the game before Anh’s goal turned Azzuri hell. First, the penalty prize for South Korea (no goals); second, Damiano Tommasi’s goal disallowed; third, Francesco Totti’s red card.
The Italian camp strongly protested and criticized FIFA. But the outcome of a football match can never be changed. Only in 2010, when Moreno smuggled 6 kilograms of heroin was arrested at JFK airport, New York, the football public then believed that the Daejeon tragedy could be part of the football mafia in the FIFA federation.
ASL
