2002 FIFA World Cup (match reports)

The 2002 Football World Cup matches were the deciding football (soccer) matches organized in the 2002 Football World Cup, held from May 31 through to the final match on June 30, at various venues throughout South Korea and Japan.

The 2002 World Cup offered many surprises and premieres. Favourites like Argentina, France, and Portugal, were eliminated in the group stages, whereas underdogs like Turkey, South Korea, and Senegal excelled. South Korea was the first Asian nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

The tournament was won by Brazil, who beat Germany with 2-0 in the final match. Turkey finished third, beating co-hosts South Korea 3-2 in the third place match.

Group stage

Groups A, B, C, D based in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Groups E, F, G, H based in Japan.

Group A

The World Cup started with a shock, as defending champions France, playing without the injured Zinedine Zidane, were beaten by tournament newcomers Senegal, 1-0 - the match's only goal scored by Papa Bouba Diop. In fact, the French failed to score a goal during the entire tournament finishing last in Group A. Their only point coming from a goalless draw with Uruguay. An impressive Denmark won the group, joined by Senegal to move on to the next round.

Team

Pts

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

GD

7

3

2

1

0

5

2

3

5

3

1

2

0

5

4

1

2

3

0

2

1

4

5

-1

1

3

0

1

2

0

3

-3

Group B

Spain had an easy time sweeping Group B, with Paraguay needing a late goal against another newcomer, Slovenia, to tie South Africa on goal difference (they were already tied on points) and move to the second round on the next tiebreaker, goals scored.

Team

Pts

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

GD

9

3

3

0

0

9

4

5

4

3

1

1

1

6

6

0

4

3

1

1

1

5

5

0

0

3

0

0

3

2

7

-5

Group C

Brazil swept Group C. Turkey advanced to the next round, too, beating Costa Rica on goal difference. China, coached by Bora Milutinović (the fifth team he has coached in five consecutive World Cups), failed to get a point or even score a goal.

Team

Pts

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

GD

9

3

3

0

0

11

3

8

4

3

1

1

1

5

3

2

4

3

1

1

1

5

6

-1

0

3

0

0

3

0

9

-9

Group D

Group D saw several surprises as the United States beat the traditionally strong Portuguese side 3-2. Then, goalkeeping by Brad Friedel earned the Americans a 1-1 draw with South Korea. South Korea, already assured of advancing after topping Poland 2-0, beat Portugal to send the Europeans home and give the United States a ticket into the second round.

Team

Pts

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

GD

7

3

2

1

0

4

1

3

4

3

1

1

1

5

6

-1

3

3

1

0

2

6

4

2

3

3

1

0

2

3

7

-4

Group E

Germany thrashed Saudi Arabia 8-0 in Group E thanks to three goals from Miroslav Klose. Ireland were playing without ex-captain Roy Keane, sent home days before the World Cup, but led by his unrelated namesake Robbie claimed second place at the expense of African champions Cameroon.

Team

Pts

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

GD

7

3

2

1

0

11

1

10

5

3

1

2

0

5

2

3

4

3

1

1

1

2

3

-1

0

3

0

0

3

0

12

-12

Group F

Other than France's failures, the biggest shock of the tournament came in the Group of Death, Group F as pre-tournament favorites Argentina failed to move out of the group. A loss to England 1-0 on a David Beckham penalty and a subsequent draw with Sweden kept the South Americans from advancing. The Scandinavians won the group, with England also going through. Nigeria finished last.

Team

Pts

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

GD

5

3

1

2

0

4

3

1

5

3

1

2

0

2

1

1

4

3

1

1

1

2

2

0

1

3

0

1

2

1

3

-2

Group G

In Group G, Italy, Croatia, and Ecuador all beat each other once, but the Italians' draw against group winners Mexico, while the other two lost to the North Americans, gave the three-time World champions second place in the group.

Team

Pts

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

GD

7

3

2

1

0

4

2

2

4

3

1

1

1

4

3

1

3

3

1

0

2

2

3

-1

3

3

1

0

2

2

4

-2

Group H

Co-hosts Japan breezed through Group H, joined by Belgium. Russia and Tunisia were two of the disappointments of the tournament, in what was considered the weakest group of the tournament.

Team

Pts

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

GD

7

3

2

1

0

5

2

3

5

3

1

2

0

6

5

1

3

3

1

0

2

4

4

0

1

3

0

1

2

1

5

-4

Final 16

In the last 16, Germany beat Paraguay 1-0 on a late goal by Oliver Neuville. England thrashed previously-impressive Denmark 3-0. Senegal continued their impressive run with a golden goal victory over Sweden, 2-1. Robbie Keane's late equalizer for Ireland to make it 1-1 was not enough as Spain won on penalty kicks.

In the battle of CONCACAF rivals, the United States took it to Mexico 2-0 behind the goals of Brian McBride and Landon Donovan. Belgium played well against Brazil, but was at the wrong end of the 2-0 score. Turkey ended co-hosts Japan's run with a 1-0 win.

The other co-hosts, South Korea, beat Italy, in a very controversial game, on a golden goal, 2-1.

Matches in South Korea:

Matches in Japan:

Quarterfinals

In the quarterfinals, Ronaldinho's free kick sailed over the stunned David Seaman as Brazil beat England 2-1. The United States lost to Germany 1-0 on a Michael Ballack goal. They outplayed the Germans everywhere but the scoreboard, and demanded the referee give a penalty for a goal-line hand ball (to no avail). South Korea got another win, beating Spain on penalties after a 0-0 draw, another very controversial win for South Korea. Turkey continued their remarkable run, stopping Senegal's own with a 1-0 golden goal victory.

Matches in South Korea:

Matches in Japan:

Semifinals

The semifinals saw two 1-0 games; first, Ballack's goal was enough for Germany to top South Korea. However, Ballack received a yellow card during the match, which forced him to miss the final based on accumulated yellow cards. Ronaldo scored his sixth of the competition for Brazil, who beat Turkey 1-0 in a replay of their Group C encounter.

Match in South Korea:

Match in Japan:

Third place match

Turkey beat the South Koreans 3-2 for third place, their first goal coming from Hakan Şükür straight off the opening kickoff, which is the fastest-ever in World Cup history. The Koreans responded quickly in the 9th minute, but were stunned with a couple of additional goals by Mansız. Through the second half, Turkey responded with tight defense, though allowing one more goal by South Korea.

Final

Two goals from Ronaldo secured the World Cup for Brazil as they claimed a deserved victory over Germany in the final in Yokohama. The F.C. Internazionale Milano star struck twice in the second half to settle an entertaining contest. It was the fifth time Brazil had won football's ultimate prize, cementing their status as the most successful team in the history of the competition.

Brazil captain Cafu, who became the first player to appear in three successive finals, accepted the trophy: The victory completed a remarkable journey for Luiz Felipe Scolari's team, who had been written off before the World Cup following a poor qualification campaign.

Ronaldo confirmed his reputation as the world's best striker by winning the Golden Boot award for the tournament's leading scorer with eight goals.

Much of the pre-match build-up had focused on the personal battle between Ronaldo and Oliver Kahn, the leading striker and goalkeeper in the 2002 World Cup. And it was the Brazilian who won a fascinating duel, as Kahn's blunder handed him the first goal after 67 minutes.

A speculative shot from Rivaldo should have been comfortably collected by Kahn, but instead he spilled the ball at the feet of Ronaldo, who tucked it into the net. Twelve minutes later and the game was out of sight for Brazil. Rivaldo's dummy deceived the German defence and Ronaldo beat Kahn with an excellent side-foot shot.

It had looked so different in the early stages, when Germany - inspired by Bernd Schneider - were the most dangerous team

Predictions that Germany would sit back and defend proved way off the mark as they took the game to back-pedalling Brazil with some neat passing moves.

Brazil threatened on the break, though - and Ronaldo should twice have given them the lead after being sent clean through on goal by the livewire Ronaldinho.

But Ronaldo blew both chances, as first he prodded a shot wide of goal and then missed his kick as Kahn raced off his line to collect the ball.

With half-time approaching, the Brazilians began to step up the pressure.

Midfielder Kleberson twice came close - breaking clear only to scuff the ball past the post and then curling a shot which smacked against Kahn's crossbar. And in first-half injury time Ronaldo had his third great opportunity - but this time Kahn kept out his shot from point-blank range.

Germany began the second half in exactly the way they had started the first - on the attack. And after Jens Jeremies' header was blocked on the line by Edmilson, Oliver Neuville's thundering free-kick was brilliantly turned onto his own post by Brazil keeper Marcos.

But just when it looked like a close-fought contest could be going the distance, Ronaldo took centre stage.

And his earlier misses were forgotten as he struck twice in the space of twelve minutes to give the South Americans yet another world crown.

fr:Résultats de la Coupe du monde de football de 2002 zh:2002年世界盃足球賽決賽週賽程紀錄