The Soccerphile World Cup 2002 Archives Click here to go to the current Soccerphile.com
Origami storks that were folded by thousands of school children across
Japan and used to decorate the approach to Yokohama stadium for the World
Cup final are being sold over the Internet in Japan for as much as US$22.
For World Cup souvenirs that do not rely on child exploitation, visit
Our World Cup Shop
Junichi Inamoto, the former Arsenal midfielder, may finally make his English Premiership debut with cross town London rivals Fulham. Gamba Osaka, the J.League club which holds the rights to Inamoto, and Fulham have agreed to a one-year loan move with the option of a further three-year contract.
A similar deal may be lined up for Inamoto's national team colleague, Takayuki Suzuki, with Belgian team Genk.
English Premiership side Southampton are in the market to sign South Korea's Lee Chun-soo, who has been invited to train with the team. The 21-year-old striker plays for Ulsan Hyundai in the K-League. J-League Kashiwa Reysol and Korea midfielder Yoo Sang Chul may also be moving to Europe to a Dutch or English side, according to reports in the Japanese press.
One Korean player in no hurry to rejoin his European club side is Ahn Jung Hwan, who is still refusing to train with Serie A's Perugia. The club president, Luciano Gaucci told Ahn 'he would never set foot in Perugia again' after he scored the goal that eliminated Italy from the World Cup in the Round of 16. The club did a hasty U-turn and purchased the rights to the striker from K.League Busan I.cons for US$1.6 million, but Ahn is in no mood to forgive the outburst it seems.
Brazilian forward Edilson may rejoin J-League side Kashiwa Reysol, where he scored 44 goals in 54 matches in 1996-97. Team manager, Steve Perryman, however had 'no idea' if the move had been completed.
Spain's World Cup coach Jose Antonio Camacho who resigned ten days after Spain's exit to South Korea in the quarterfinals has been replaced by Inaki Saez, who has coached Spain's youth squads since 1996. Former Japan coach Philippe Troussier is in a three-man race to succeed Roger Lemerre as manager of the French national side. The other candidates are under-21 coach Raymond Domenech and Jacques Santini, manager of French champions, Olympique Lyon. Domenech is the bookies' favourite to take over. Troussier was himself replaced by former Brazilian midfielder and Kashima Antlers' technical director, Zico.
Former Korean manager and new national hero Guus Hiddink has already returned to Dutch club football with former team PSV Eindhoven, who he lead to the European Cup in 1988.
Keith Cooper joined Michel Zen-Ruffinen as a victim of Sepp Blatter's reorganization of FIFA following the World Cup. The 55 year-old former Director of Communications was bitter at his dismissal: 'I have been sacked without a reason being given today. I have known Sepp Blatter for 30 years, but was told that I was being dismissed by Urs Linsi, the acting general secretary.' (who took over from Zen-Ruffinen)
Blocks of turf from the Kobe Wing Stadium pitch went on sale on June 30th for 200 yen ($1.65). Each block is roughly fifteen centimeters square and has five centimeters of soil. Some two thousand of these commemorative items were packaged in plastic containers and to be sold on a first-come-first-served basis in preparation for the July construction of a special stand. The turf was removed from an area behind the goal on which scaffolding will be placed. Kobe Wing Stadium witnessed the exploits of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho as they defeated Belgium 2-0 in a Round of 16 match held on June 17th.
Pint-sized Joao Pinto, the Portugal striker, who planted a surreptitious punch on Argentinean referee, Angel Sanchez during Portugal's 1-0 defeat to South Korea in Group D has been banned from playing for four months and fined US$33,000. The ban and fine hardly seem commensurate with a crime Fifa described as 'a seriious violation of the disciplinary code.' Several Portugal players were also banned for harassing the match officials after their team's exit to France in Euro 2000.
Twenty-four sets of commemorative stamps featuring manager Guus Hiddink and his team are to be issued in Korea to celebrate the national side's feat of reaching the World Cup semi-finals. Stamps featuring Korea's raucous supporters - the Red Devils - are also being planned.
Crowds at domestic K-League and J-League games in Korea and Japan were up following the success of the two host nations at the World Cup. The K- League season kicked off with record gates averaging 30,000 compared with under 13,000 last season. The J-League resumed after a break for the World Cup with large crowds turning up to salute the Japanese and Korean players who performed so well during the tournament.
Brazil lost no time in making their record fifth World Cup title pay by increasing the fee the Brazilian Soccer Federation (CBF) will charge for friendly fixtures from US$300,000 to US$500,000. 'The price has risen because we are the champions,' said CBF general manager Americo Faria.
A survey conducted by football's world governing body, FIFA has estimated
that 242.38 million people or one in every 25 people play the game worldwide.
The USA tops the list with 17.89 million active players followed by Indonesia
(10.01 million), Mexico (7.43 million), China (7.24 million) and Brazil
(7.03 million). Japan is ninth with 3.22 million active players.
The Westin Awaji Hotel on Awaji Island, which was England's base for the 2002 World Cup is over-run by visitors' requests to stay in the room where England captain David Beckham spent his nights. There is also a rush to work out on the exercise bike Beckham used in the hotel gym.
Monochrome Images from the Far East
The Soccerphile World Cup 2002 Archives
Click here to go to the current Soccerphile.com
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