The Soccerphile World Cup 2002 Archives Click here to go to the current Soccerphile.com
The host nations' triumphant progress to the second round of the World Cup has lead to an outburst of World Cup fever in South Korea and Japan.
After South Korea's 1-0 defeat of Portugal on June 14, police estimated up to 3 million fans poured onto the streets nationwide to celebrate the victory. In Seoul, 1.5 million fans dressed in the national team's red watched the game on large outdoor video screens in city squares and downtown streets and celebrated the historic victory into the early hours.
A 39-year old fan dressed in red set himself alight hours before the Portugal game in the hope of becoming a spiritual 12th player and helping the Korean team to victory. The man is in critical condition in hospital.
Electricity demand has shown a sudden drop of over 13% compared with normal whenever Korea are playing as workers down tools to follow the action.
In Japan, wild celebrations got out of hand in several incidences after the home team's 1-0 defeat of Russia. Several arrests were made in Osaka, Oita and Tokyo for indecent exposure and vandalism, as fans clashed with police, smashed car wind screens, public telephone booths and clambered up traffic signal poles despite being faced by over 4,500 officers in Yokohama alone.
After Japan's 2-0 victory over Tunisia in Osaka over 900 fans jumped into the Dotombori river from Ebisu bridge in Namba as large crowds gathered to celebrate the national team's progress to a round of 16 match up with Turkey.
Miya Suzuki, a twenty year old college student, wearing a blue, home-made Inamoto¬ shirt and sporting red and white face paint, skipped classes to cheer on Japan while watching the game on a portable television in Dotombori.
She told Soccerphile it was the ‘most memorable day of her life.'
Police increased their presence in the Namba entertainment area and attached barbed wire to traffic signals and telegraph poles to deter fans from scaling them. Crowds of over 1000 people gathered in Tokyo's Roppongi, Shinjuku and Shibuya areas chanting Nippon! Nippon! in scenes of exuberant nationalism not seen since the end of the Second World War. 15 people in total were arrested in Osaka, Tokyo and Sapporo for minor public order offences.
Osaka locals warned foreigners (many of them wearing Japan colors) imitating the jump into Dotombori's fetid waters to jump feet first due to the number of discarded bicycles in the murky stream.
FIFA Launches Inquiry into Ticketing Mess
Recently re-elected FIFA President Sepp Blatter promised a full inquiry in to the ticketing chaos that has seen empty seats at most matches despite heavy demand, particularly in Japan, for tickets. Match tickets originating from a FIFA official, Mohammed bin Hammam, also ended up with independent ticket agencies, in so-far unexplained circumstances. Mr. Mohammed bin Hammam, a key Blatter supporter, was accused earlier in the year of being a Blatter ‘bag-man' and distributing bribes to African soccer delegates. Blatter obtained a Swiss court injunction in April stopping Somali Football Association President Farah Addo from repeating bribery accusations against bin Hammam.
German organizers of the 2006 World Cup have promised major changes in the way tickets will be distributed and Blatter added:
"In 2006 we will trust the expertise of the German Football Association. Already they have a new approach to the pricing of tickets in the stadium to put more popular tickets on the market."
Good Ratings
Televised World Cup matches are drawing huge audiences in Japan.
Japan's 1-0 victory over Russia on Sunday June 9 drew 66.1% of the television audience, a record for a football match and second only to the 66.8% who tuned in during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics' Japan v Soviet Union women's volleyball game.
England's games against Sweden and Argentina attracted 30.4% and 41.6% of the domestic audience while the opening France v Senegal match had a 35.9% share.
In the USA the ESPN2 broadcast of the South Korea v USA game set a record for the network of 1.36 million households viewing the action.
The World Cup official website fifaworldcup.com clocked up 106,736,781 page views on June 7 a one-day record for a sporting event.
Cybertouts
Ticket scalpers in Japan are using computers to discover confidential booking numbers to connect to them directly and computerized dialing machines to repeatedly call the Japan World Cup organizing committee's (JAWOC) reservation telephone numbers.
With demand overwhelming and only 2 out of 100,000 callers getting through to purchase Japan v Russia tickets, prospective buyers are being beaten to it by well organized ticket touts, who sell on the tickets for around ¥150,000 (US$1,200) each.
Working For Success
Employees at the Tokyo Stock Exchange donned Korea and Japan national team jerseys in efforts to support the two host nations. Electronic signboards flashed messages of encouragement to the two teams. TSE officials are hoping Japan and Korea's continuing progress in the tournament will stimulate the regional economy.
Some companies in Japan allowed their workers to follow the decisive Japan v Tunisia match on TV while at work but civil servants in the nation's ward offices were prohibited from viewing the game.
Shintaro Ishihara, the nationalist governor of Tokyo reversed an earlier decision to prohibit the screening of the match in working hours and allowed staff who were not dealing directly with the public to see the action: ‘This is a very good opportunity to identify with one's state and ethnic race,' the right-wing politician was quoted as saying.
British Fan Hurt in Fall
A young Scottish man was in a coma after fracturing his skull in a fall from the upper tier of Jeonju Stadium during Portugal's 4-0 win over Poland.
The man was running around a lower concourse in front of spectator seats
in the heavy rain Monday night when he slipped and fell over a barrier
and into a security moat. The fan was suspected of being under the influence
of alcohol at the time of the incident.
A Polish spectator also fell from the stands at the same time and was
taken to a local hospital, where he was reported in stable condition.
Bad News Flash
"Tragedy in Osaka ... Japan's dreams shattered with triumph in sight."
Japan's largest news agency, Kyodo News accidentally sent the incorrect headline, prepared in advance in case Japan lost its last Group H World Cup match, to the Internet news site http://sports.nifty.com/ just before the co-host beat Tunisia 2-0 Friday to advance to the next round. The report stayed online for three hours.
Crime in Korea Falls
Crime rates in South Korea have dipped during the opening two weeks of the tournament as World Cup fever grips the country and fears over hooliganism have failed to materialize. A total of 10,824 crimes were reported in the country since the start of the tournament - a drop of 21% compared with the 10-day period prior to the opening game.
Japan Plays Clean
FIFA Communications Director, Keith Cooper reported that the Japan national team's dressing room was in pristine condition after their 1-0 victory in Yokohama over Russia in Group H.
"Usually you find banana skins and empty bottles. But they took everything with them down to the last wrapping paper," he said.
Free Accommodation Not Publicized
Free lodgings set up for fans in Japan are not being taken up due to a lack of publicity by the organizers. No visitors were reported at two facilities in Osaka designed to cater to English fans in town for the England v Nigeria game on June 12. Fans looking for free accommodation in Japan's venue cities should check at the nearest police box (koban).
Keep Off The Grass!
15 FIFA officials and 20 South Korean tournament organizers drew flak from the managers of Suwon World Cup stadium for playing an impromptu friendly on the pitch despite being warned of the possible damage to the playing surface. The officials carried on for 80 minutes even though they had promised to play for only 40 minutes.
Yellow Cards for Child's Play
An 8-month-old Canadian baby was denied access to the Sapporo World Cup stadium for Germany's game with Saudi Arabia on June 2, because the child did not have a ticket and was not born when the application was made.
Mother and child caught the match on a video screen while the baby's father went to the match alone.
The game was watched by only 32,218 fans, meaning 7,000 seats remained empty.
On the same day an unidentified non-Japanese national wearing an Argentina team uniform snatched a World Cup soccer finals ticket for the match between Argentina and Nigeria from a junior high school student near Kashima Stadium in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, police said.
The man ran off after stealing the 13-year-old boy's ticket. JAWOC allowed the boy to attend the game due to the special circumstances.
Argy Bargy
Britain's right wing press gloated over England's defeat of Argentina in the ‘Group of Death.' The Daily Mail ran a front-page picture of Argentine players carrying handbags as they jumped in a defensive wall and the Daily Telegraph's Paul Hayward commented:
'Don't cry for Argentina. Nobody will miss the players who spat in the face of Danny Mills, abused Paul Scholes in the mixed zone and tried to disrupt David Beckham's concentration before he took his penalty.'
No.1
The Fifa World Cup CD has shot to the top of Japan's pop charts selling 700,000 copies so far. Soccerphile's CD featuring the mass choirs of Japan fans is available here.
Russian Riot
Two people were killed and many injured during a riot in Moscow after Russia were defeated by Japan 1-0 in Yokohama on June 9. Cars were set on fire, a Japanese sushi restaurant attacked and Japanese students beaten up by rampaging Russian youths in the squares around the Kremlin where a giant screen had attracted a crowd of 3,000. Over a 100 police officers were injured including one officer critically ill with serious stab wounds as the authorities struggled to contain an estimated 8,000 hooligans. Terrified Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese sought refuge in a downtown McDonald's restaurant.
The Soccerphile World Cup 2002 Archives
Click here to go to the current Soccerphile.com
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