World Cup 2002: Tournament of surprises and controversy

The 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea was probably the most exciting and dramatic tournament, with not only unexpected developments but also controversial scandals. A series of dramatic scenarios took place over a month in Asia, leaving their echoes still lingering today.

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Surprise after surprise

The first thing fans remember about the World Cup in Japan and Korea are the shocking results. Right from the opening day of the tournament, everyone had to remember Senegal. This small team from Africa defeated defending champion France 1-0. The French team was then eliminated from the group stage with only 1 point after 3 matches and not scoring a single goal.

Defending champion France returned home from the group stage without scoring a single goal

Portugal, with a group of talented players like Luis Figo, Rui Costa... fell to the underrated US team, while Argentina and runner-up Croatia were also eliminated from the group stage.

Meanwhile, the two home teams, Japan and South Korea, despite falling into difficult groups, still advanced to the 1/8 round with first place. Korea even achieved the feat of being the first Asian team. reached the World Cup semi-finals. Another underrated team, Türkiye, also overcame a series of giants to reach the semi-finals.

The referee's distorted whistle

Korea reached the semi-finals of the tournament, but it cannot be denied that their achievement was largely thanks to the support of the referee.

The first is the group stage match between hosts Korea and Portugal. In the 27th minute, the referee issued a red card to midfielder Pinto even though it was just a non-dangerous foul. In the 66th minute, he continued to issue a second yellow card to player Beto simply because of a reaction error, even denying this team a valid goal. Playing with two players short and being treated unfairly, the Portuguese team quickly lost morale, exhausted their strength and lost 1-0 in the 70th minute, giving the Korean team the chance to advance.

The controversial red card situation of Totti

Round of 1/8, when Korea faced the Italian team, Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno "turned a blind eye" to the violent, unsportsmanlike situations of the Korean players, despite the circumstances. The situation was extremely serious and clear, thanks to which Korea held Italy to a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes of play. In extra time, the referee denied Totti a penalty and disqualified him from playing for diving, and even rejected both clear goals from Vieri and Tommasi. Thanks to that, Korea had the opportunity to rise up and win with Ahn Jung-Hwan's golden goal in the 117th minute.

Spain's goal was not recognized by the referee

In the quarterfinals against the Spanish team, despite having to endure countless vicious tackles from Korean players, Spain did not enjoy any benefits, not even the two players Javier Pedro and Fernando. Morientes was also given a yellow card just for complaining. Not stopping there, the referee also did not recognize Spain's two valid goals. In the first situation, the King in Black thought that the pair of Spanish strikers pushed the Korean defender before heading the goal, but in slow motion, everything happened according to the law. In the second situation, Joaquin dribbled quickly and skillfully on the right wing before pouring the ball inside for Morientes to jump high and head into the Korean net. Once again, the referee rejected the goal because he thought Joaquin let the ball cross the line, even though the Spanish midfielder even touched the ball before it rolled to the end line. As a result, Spain was held to a draw after 120 minutes of play and then lost 3-5 to the host in the penalty shootout in a state of inhibition.

The Korean team had an extremely successful World Cup at home when they became the first (and only Asian team to date) to reach the fourth round of the strongest teams. But clearly, that achievement was deeply marked by the controversial whistle blows of the black king.