National 13 (Spotlight Weekly)

Upsets And Delights

While France and Argentina are booted out from the preliminary round, other relative minnows make it to the knock-out stage

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

When Argentina was thrashed out from the preliminary round of the 2002 FIFA World Cup as it failed to win Sweden, many people wept along with Batistuta and Crespo. The failure of three-time world champions Argentina, who are the overwhelming favorites among Nepalese fans ever since the days of Maradona, has once again proved that football springs up surprises in the most unexpected manner.

Likewise, the woeful exit of the cup-defenders France has raised many eyebrows. The defeat of the French team was particularly disturbing as they failed to score even a single goal in the three matches they played in the preliminary matches.

Another heavyweight to come crashing down was the Portugal. It was also roundly defeated by Asian minnows South Korea.

With the defeat of France, Argentina and Portugal, people will now have to miss the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Batistuta, Juan Sebastian Veron and Luis Figo.

One man's sorrow is another's glory. Where France, Argentina and Portugal have collapsed, Senegal, USA and South Korea have advanced.

It is for the first time that the two Asian nations Japan and South Korea, who are also the co-hosts of the tournament, have advanced to the second round. Although Japan was defeated by Turkey in the second round by a solitary goal, they put up an impressive performance.

The show put up by the African nation Senegal has attracted a lot of attention. They made an astounding entry into the world football by defeating the world champion France. They have proved that the win was not a fluke as they have already advanced to the quarter-finals uprooting country like Sweden in the process. After Cameroon (in 1990), Senegal is the only nation to advance to the quarter-finals. Led by charismatic French coach Bruno Metso, Senegalese stand a fairly good chance of entering the semi-finals as they now have to face Turkey in the quarter-finals.

Likewise, the co-hosts Japan and South Korea have also been remarkable in their games. Japan drew with strong European team Belgium and defeated Russia and Tunisia. South Korea defeated Poland and Portugal and shared points with the USA. Both the co-hosts led their respective groups. Although Japan was defeated in the second round, till the time of writing this article, South Korea was still in business. It faced a match against Italy. Whether they can repeat the historic record set by North Korea in 1966 when they defeated the azzuris 1-0 to enter quarter-finals, the first ever by Asian nation, still remains to be seen.

Spain and Brazil were the two most impressive teams in the preliminary round. Both won all the three matches in the round and have already registered victory in the second round as well to advance to the quarter finals. Germany and Italy, too, made it to the second round. The German striker Miroslav Klose and Brazilian magic-star Ronaldo, both have hit 5 goals each and are running neck to neck to win the golden boot award, which is given to the most prolific striker of the tournament.

As the second round of the tournament drew to close, there were fair shares of upsets and delights and it is still anybody's guess whether the cup will be won by the previous holders or new-comers this year.

Thapa In FIFA Committee

The president of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) Ganesh Thapa is currently observing the FIFA World Cup 2002 from close quarters. He has been given the responsibility to oversee the disciplinary matters of the tournament. A person who enjoys close rapport with the FIFA President Sepp Blatter, Thapa is one of the seven member disciplinary committee set up to smoothly operate the tournament. Thapa, former national player, was instrumental in bringing the ëmillion dollar' FIFA Goal Project to Nepal. But because his ANFA is yet to be recognized by the Nepalese government, the project has not taken off. At the invitation of FIFA, several other central members of Thapa-led ANFA, too, are currently in South Korea to observe the tournament.