The real winners of the World Cup

Saturday 29 June 2002 00:00 BST
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It might be more decorous if players just shook hands with the scorer as he jogged back to his half, but the abiding images of this World Cup have been the unrestrained joy of underdogs winning. From the jig around Pape Bouba Diop's shirt by the corner flag when Senegal scored against France on day one to the tears of Ahn Jung-Hwan after South Korea's golden goal against Italy via David Beckham's exorcism with his penalty against Argentina of his petulance four years ago, this World Cup has seen the moments of great emotion we hoped for.

The football itself has been enjoyable, even if there have been few outstanding individual performances and the refereeing has been distinctly patchy. But the great story on the pitch has been the levelling up of the sport. France, Argentina and Portugal made early exits, while Ireland held Germany and Spain to draws and the United States made the quarter-finals; few would have bet, meanwhile, on the battle for third place being contested today by Turkey and South Korea.

Off the pitch, the first World Cup to be held in Asia will be remembered for presenting such a positive image of the region to the world. It was to be expected that Japan and South Korea would organise the tournament efficiently and that the venues would be state-of-the-art (and built on time, unlike Wembley). Not even the incompetence of Fifa, world football's disreputable governing body, which was responsible for the bumpy ticketing operation, could spoil the party. And the only rioting hooligans brandishing Union Jacks were Russians in Moscow after their team's defeat by Japan.

What few expected, however, were the extraordinary levels of warmth and enthusiasm shown by the Japanese and Koreans. Their obvious delight at playing host to the world was combined with a complete lack of animosity towards other teams and – in the case of England and the ubiquitous Mr Beckham – with positive adulation.

International diplomacy is obviously a good and necessary thing, but sport continues to be a more effective unifier of peoples than any number of communiqués and summits.

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