The Match That Broke the Script

Chapter One

A match goes east

Awarding the World Cup to 2 international locations was, on paper, a fudge. South Korea and Japan had each bid to host alone, and the rivalry between them ran far deeper than soccer. Moderately than crown one and humiliate the opposite, FIFA in 1996 did the pragmatic factor and handed it to each. Every nation constructed ten gleaming new stadiums; the matches had been cut up down the center, and the ultimate was despatched to Japan, on the Worldwide Stadium in Yokohama.

There have been sceptics. The kick-off instances had been brutal for European tv, the match fell within the monsoon season, and there was open doubt about whether or not Asian crowds would fill the grounds. These doubts evaporated inside days. 4 nations — China, Ecuador, Senegal and Slovenia — arrived as debutants. Curiously, Tokyo, the Japanese capital, didn’t host a single match. This was a 32-team World Cup, the format that ran from 1998 to 2022 earlier than the expanded 48-team format arrived; all the things about it felt barely off its axis, and that was earlier than a ball had been kicked in anger.