Football News - China, Pele, Police and Babies
China
FIFA reserved a place for China in one of the Korean groups of the World
Cup draw for special ‘economical and geographical reasons’.
Between 100,000 and 600,000 Chinese fans are expected to make the short
trip to neighboring Korea for the event, adding around US$220m to South
Korea’s coffers. China’s ticket allocation was quickly snapped
up on the Internet by eager fans.
Korea’s President Kim Dae-jung has also issued an invitation to Chinese
President Jiang Zemin to attend the opening ceremony in Seoul.
Santa's little helpers
Pele
Pele, former Brazilian great and hero of Brazil’s 1970 triumph in Mexico predicted the first World Cup to be held in Asia would be a ‘strange’ affair when he visited Korea to attend the December 1st 2001 draw in Busan. The curious English spelling he encountered on signs at Seoul’s new US$151m stadium may have influenced the great man. ‘Smorking Room’, ‘Eletric Room’ and ‘Public Spectors’ are a few choice examples.
Police
The Japanese government introduced new legislation in November to bar
people from entering the country who had been sentenced to jail-terms
of less than a year. Previously only people who had served more than 12
months could be refused entry. The tough new laws also allow for immediate
deportation of arrested individuals and the right to refuse entry to ‘suspicious
individuals’. Opposition parties have criticized the new bill saying
it will restrict the activities of NGOs.
Over in Korea, a special police squad of ten female martial arts experts
trained in Taekwondo
has been formed to combat any signs of hooliganism. Both Korea and Japan
have been advised to take a ‘softly-softly’ approach to dealing
with crowds of possibly drunken, chanting fans.
Around 1000 British hooligans
may make the trip to Japan and the Japanese National Police Agency has
asked for a list of known troublemakers from their counterparts in Europe
and South America. Special ‘spotters’ from overseas forces will
also be on duty throughout the finals and police riot squads around the
country have been holding practice drills in crowd control.
Babies
In Japan the World Cup draw had to share front-page space with the news that Princess Masako had given birth to a daughter. The Japanese constitution, however, does not allow a female to ascend to the imperial throne. The good news may spur on Japan’s sluggish economy, which shrank yet again in the third quarter while unemployment rose to a record 5.4%. Korea, on the other hand has been experiencing a welcome period of tidy growth with the economy set to expand by 3.9% in 2002.
Miscellany
• FIFA handed over US$100m to both the Japanese and Korean World Cup organizing committees after the draw in Busan.
• FIFA announced that the winners of the 2002 tournament would have to qualify for the 2006 World Cup to be held in Germany; previously defending champions had automatic passage and were exempt from having to qualify.
• North Korea failed to respond to an invitation from the South to stage some matches during the 2002 finals. Guus Hiddink, South Korea’s Dutch coach, hinted that North Korean players could join his squad to make up a combined team. Will they or won’t they? Hiddink also cautioned his players not to take any satisfaction from losing to Senegal 1-0 in a recent friendly as Senegal had previously beaten co-hosts Japan 2-0.
• Adidas’ Fevernova will be the official match ball of the 2002 World Cup. The new ball bears a green, gold and red emblem.
• Special charter flights will be provided for the 32 teams as they move between venues and the two host nations and extra security will be provided for team buses, hotels and training facilities. Commercial flights will be banned from over-flying stadiums and training facilities during the finals as an extra safety precaution.
• Teams are beginning to finalize their training camps in Korea/Japan following the World Cup draw. Defending champions France will base in Kuri, south of Seoul. England are to begin their preparations on Awaji Island near Kobe, Japan. Denmark chose Namhae on the southern coast of Korea, Portugal went for the Korean Military Academy in Seoul and Korea themselves are in Kyongju. Nigeria have opted for Fuji-Yoshida in Yamanashi Prefecture 200 km west of Tokyo. Sendai in northern Japan is still wooing the Italians, who are playing hard to get.
• Ticket sales began to take off in Korea following the draw but enthusiasm for the event stills lags behind that in Japan. The relatively high price of tickets is seen as a major contributing factor to the apparent lukewarm response of the Korean public so far.
• FIFA changed some of the kick-off times following the final draw
in Busan. England’s game against Sweden was moved to an evening kick-off
following a request from British TV companies. Japan’s appeal for
a later start time for their match against Tunisia in Osaka was not met,
however, despite pressure from domestic broadcasters.
Danish coach, Morten Olsen complained the switch to an afternoon kick-off
for the Denmark v Senegal clash in Daegu on June 6 gave the African team
an advantage. "We now have to play against the African team in the
afternoon and in the absolute hottest of all World Cup cities…that
is clearly an advantage for our African friends," he moaned. Daegu
is the hottest of the Korean
venues in June with Osaka topping the list in Japan a few degrees
warmer.
• Seogwipo on Jeju island became the final Korean venue to be completed and staged its first game on 9 December when Korea defeated the USA 1-0 on a header from captain Yoo Sang Chul.