So you thought it was all over. Here’s a mixture of trivia and stats from the 2002 World Cup,  that we’ll continue to add to over the next few days.

 

England’s seven week World Cup campaign had a budget of around £3 million. Apart from the 23 players – 24 if you include the injured Murphy – some 43 FA people were involved in supporting the team’s campaign.

 

When Senegal beat France, chickens were cooked en masse to celebrate the Lions defeating the cockerel.

 

When Turkey beat Japan to reach the quarter finals, the Kurdish villages of Dokemtepe and Kurudere  renamed two bridges after Umit Davala and Hasan Sas.

 

When Japan beat Tunisia to reach the second stage, some of their fans invaded the local Kentucky Fried Chicken and made off with the life-size statue of  Colonel Sanders – or the “bearded poultry icon” as he was described in the English language  “Japan Times”.

 

While the warders of a high security Indonesian prison in Sumatra were watching Brazil beat Belgium, a group of 48 inmates stole the keys and jogged out through the back gates. Only 16 were recaptured.

 

Emile Heskey’s brother, by the way, is named Revelino – with the spelling just slightly adjusted from Rivelino who helped Brazil beat England in Mexico in the 1970 Finals.

 

After spending £2 billion on ten stadiums for the 2002 World Cup, the Japanese authorities admitted than several of them may never be used for football again.

 

            Although co-hosts Japan and Korea did Asia proud with their football as well as their hospitality at these finals, the other Asian representatives did not win a point or score a goal.

 

An estimated £250 million were staked by punters on the World Cup, making it the biggest sports betting event ever.

 

The best winning bet was landed by Ian Cattermole from Kent whose £10 double on Denmark to head Senegal as a straight forecast in Group A with South Korea to head USA in Group D won him £100,000. The prices were 125/1 and 100/1, which took him beyond the 100k maximum with bookie Stan James .

 

The worst bet of the tournament was the £100,000 cash which Ladbrokes took on England to win outright at 7/2 the day before they lost to Brazil.

 

Philip Sharp, a 38-y-o packaging engineer from St Albans, who normally refs Dr. Martens League games but runs the line in the Premiership was honoured to be named as an Assistant Ref. for the Final. Normally paid £250 a game for his work in the Premiership, he earned $17,500 (£11,600) for doing four games in the Finals.

 

The BBC had to apologise to its deaf viewers after the text service translating live commentary rechristened Scottish referee Hugh Dallas “Huge Dallas” and Portuguese striker Joao Pinto became “So Pointed”. Reminds me of our first efforts at scanning in fixtures in the early 90’s newly equipped with a scanner that had cost £1,200 and text-reading software that had cost a further £900. “Blackburn Rovers” still became “Slackbum Rovers.”  

 

Of the 64 games, 19 were draws, of which three were 0-0s. In the 48 Group games, there were fourteen draws, but five of the 16 knock-out games required Extra Time, of which three were settled by golden goals and two by penalty shoot-outs, whereby Spain defeated Ireland and then South Korea defeated Spain.

 

The most common times for goals to be scored were the 61^st and 65^th minutes – 15 goals apiece.

 

There were 161 goals altogether, with  - 69 first half scores, 89 second half scores and 3 in extra time. There were 3 own goals. The average of 2.52 goals per game compared badly with 2.67 in France 98 and 2.71 in USA 94. The lowest tally is 2.21 per game in Italia 90.

 

The number of games won by the side scoring first: 37. Total games won by the team conceding first: a surprisingly high 9.

 

The fastest goal was scored by Hakan Sukur for Turkey against South Korea in the 3^rd place play off game after just 11 seconds – the fastest ever goal in World Cup Finals history.

 

Most goals scored: Brazil with 18; Brazil also scored most goals per game with 18 in 7 games.

 

Golden Boot: Ronaldo (Brazil) with 8. He also fired in the most shots (26), and the most shots on target (21). “Although both are very hard to go without, I don’t think that sex could ever be as rewarding as winning the World Cup. It’s not that sex isn’t great – it’s just that it’s a lot more regular than the World Cup, which is only every four years.” – Ronaldo.

 

Since suffering convulsions before the 1998 World Cup Final – and he had been World Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997 – Ronaldo had suffered from a ruptured kneecap and a snapped rotula tendon. Ouch. He had been told that he had only a 50-50 chance of playing again, and he had managed only 14 league games in three seasons for Inter-Milan. Ironically, the surgeon responsible for saving his career was French – one Gerard Saillant.  He has now equalled Pele’s record for Brazil of  12 goals in World Cup Finals. Before spilling the ball at his feet to gift Ronaldo Brazil’s opener, German keeper Oliver Khan had gone 7 hours and 8 minutes without conceding a goal. Although Brazil were finalists in 1994 and 1998, it was Brazil’s first goal from open play in a World Cup Final since 1970.

 

Brazil had the most shots on target (56 – averaging exactly 8 per game)

 

Fewest shots by a team: China (19 – in three games). Fewest shots on target by a team: Tunisia (6 – in three games).

 

Fewest goals conceded: Argentina – 2. Fewest goals-per-game conceded: Germany with just 3 in 7 games. Germany also mustered the most shots – 100.

 

Most fouls in a match – 62 (Japan v Russia); fewest fouls in a match – 19 (England v Nigeria).

 

Most fouls by a team: 133 (both Germany and South Korea). Most fouls by a player: 19 (Cafu).

 

Most cards by a team: 18 (Turkey – 2 reds and 16 yellows); fewest cards by a team: 2 (Nigeria, both yellows).

 

Penalties awarded: 18 of which only 13 were converted. Six of the 19 penalties in shootouts were missed.

 

Most possession in a match: 67% by Mexico against USA. They lost.

 

Most corners: 53 (South Korea). Fewest corners: 4 (Saudi Arabia).

 

Most offsides: 26 (Brazil – which proves their delight in going forward of course, except that they went through the Final against Germany without being caught offside once.

 

The top tackler was Senegal’s Omar Daf,  who averaged 10.2 tackles in his five games.

The average attendance dropped from the 43,517 in France 98 to 41,844. The Highest attendance was the 66,108 who watched Japan beat Russia. The lowest was 24,000 at Jeonju for the Group game between Spain and Paraguay.

 

When Brazil captain Cafu took the stage for the Final in Yokahama, he became the first player every to play in three successive World Cup Finals.

 

FINAL stats:

 

Possession: Germany 58%, Brazil 42%

Shots on target: Germany 3, Brazil 6

Shots off target: Germany 7, Brazil 3

Blocked shots: Germany 9, Brazil 2

Passing accuracy: Germany 72%, Brazil 70%

Tackle success: Germany 88%, Brazil 70%

Corners: Germany 13, Brazil 3

Fouls: Germany 22, Brazil 19

Offsides: Germany 1, Brazil 0

Yellow Cards: Germany 1, Brazil 1

Red Cards: Germany 0 Brazil 0

 

In the third place play off final, South Korea also had 58% of the possession to their opponents’ 42%, and the corner count was 10-4 to the Koreans too – who also lost. South Korea mustered 23 shots to Turkey’s 8 as well.

 

Brazil had used 77 players and four coaches to reach the Finals, losing an unprecedented six times. After scraping through the South American qualifiers, Brazil boss Scolari singled out Rudi Voller, the German Manager during the draw for Finals in Busan in December, 2001 and gave him a hug because the Germans had also struggled to qualify and did so only via a play off. Each then said to the other , “See you in the Final!” And they did.

 

Just before the Final, FIFA arranged a special challenge match between Bhutan and Montserrat, 202^nd on their Rankings list and 203^rd respectively. Bhutan, the most recent arrival on the FIFA list, won 4-0, but eight of the visiting squad were struck down with altitude sickness and food poisoning. Captain Wangyel Dorji scored a hat-trick for the hosts in front of a crowd of 25,000 in Thimpu

 

On Friday, June 14^th, a young Korean burned himself alive in Busan, committing his spirit to being the 12^th Red Devil of the national team. In his suicide note he declared, “I will be the ghost, the 12^th player on the pitch, doing my best for the Korean team.” Down the years I have seen one or two English fans I could have wished might have shown such a spirit of self-sacrifice on behalf of us all.

 

Thanks to the influence of the Koreans’ Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, sales of Dutch lager Heineken rose 15% in Korea during the Finals, while sales of Grolsch trebled.

 

Russian fans watching their game against Belgium on giant screens in Moscow were themselves watched by 2,000 riot police after trouble broke out in the same place after their defeat by Japan.

 

 

QUOTES of the tournament:

 

“Eriksson talks about pace, but nothing can run faster than the ball.” - Brazilian coach Big Phil Scolari, after his team had beaten England with ten men.

 

“We have adapted well to life without Zinedine (Zidane). As far as our fans are concerned, we have to win the World Cup. They’ll be after my blood if we don’t, but this is a great French team.” – Roger Lemerre, French Manager, after their draw against Uruguay left them bottom of Group A, where they stayed without scoring a goal.

 

“Apart from Khan, you could put that lot in a bag and beat it with a stick and whoever got hit would deserve it.”  - Franz Beckenbauer on Germany after their Semi-Final win over South Korea.

 

“For the third goal I blame the ball.” Saudi keeper Mohammed Al-Deayea, after Ireland’s Damien Duff had scored the 12^th goal against the Saudi’s in their three games. 

 

“He said to us, ‘You all go with the flow.’ I thought, ‘Here we go again.’ He’d been hammering me with one-liners all week. I asked him “What goes with the flow?’ ‘Dead fish,’ he said. I thought, ‘Wow! P-R-O-F-O-U-N-D! The Messiah has spoken.” Jason McAteer on Roy Keane.

 

“Fail to prepare – prepare to fail.” Roy Keane on the Irish football authorities before he blew up with Irish Manager Mick McCarthy.

 

“You’d think that if any team could put up a decent wall it would be China.” Terry Venables on China’s wretched attempt to defend a free-kick.

 

“I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian football.” – Perugia president Luciano Gaucci shows magnanimity in defeat after sacking Ahn Jung-hwan  for scoring the winner against the country where he plied his trade

 

“Ireland are rough, raw and sweaty.” - Spanish newspaper El Pais before their game with Mick McCarthy’s team. This was ironic in that the coach who most clearly demonstrated sopping armpits during the tournament was Spain’s own Jose Antonio Camacho. As McCarthy said, Comacho’s pits are in bits.” Perhaps Comacho had been listening to the South Korean supreme Guus Hiddink: “I don’t speak much Korean but I communicate with my players by sweating.”

 

“I’m bullet-proof, me. I’ve taken so many shots there are no holes left!” Mick McCarthy.

 

“He has been beaten in three finals with Leverkusen, so we don’t want him in the team.” Boris Becker showing  great sympathy for Michael Ballack after a second yellow card eliminated him from the Final.

 

“Yell Gooooaaalll! With a Roomful of People Who Understand Your Innermost Feelings!” – sign in a 24-hour diner in Washington, try to stir up enthusiasm for its offering televised soccer in the USA. 

 

“Belgium are like the other Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Denmark…” – Andy Townsend.

 

“It’s been a frustrating couple of years for (David) Connolly. He has not been regular wherever he’s been.”  -  Joe Royle

 

“It’s dangerous to think football 24 hours a day. Tord Grip has brought his accordion. It’s important to switch off.” – Sven Goran Eriksson. It might important to switch Tord Grip off too. Will he feature on S-G’s next compilation CD we wonder?