Meet in the 2006 World Cup in Germany!

The 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, the first of its kind in the 21st century, has come to an end with the final match between Brazil and Germany on the 30th.

The World Cup games have excited soccer fans all across the world for the past month.

The World Cup raised the curtain with the opening match at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on May 31. 32 countries participated in the finals playing 48 games in group matches and 16 tournament games. The total 64 matches have gripped the world with the `Cup frenzy`.

The World Cup, the first-ever World Cup held in Asia and co-hosted Korea and Japan, was eulogized as a great success next to perfect.

There have been a number of upsets in the World Cup starting from debutants Senegal`s victory over defending champion France in the opening match. Many football powerhouses in the World were put to rout, dramatically changing the world football landscape.

France, which ranks 1st in the FIFA ranking, was driven out of the World Cup without scoring a single goal in the group match. Other football favorites such as Argentina, Portugal, Cameroon, Nigeria and Croatia, also failed to advance to the final eight. The upsets gave bitter memories for the countries, but exciting memories for the football fans.

Co-hosts Korea and Japan went to the round of 16. Korea, in particular, snatched the first win in the World Cup and secured a place in the top 16, which were the nation`s 48-year-old hope. The nation then rushed to the top 4 after defeating Portugal, Italy and Spain one after another. Korea achieve to goals; the successful hosting of the World Cup and the best performance in its football history.

The World Cup was criticized for the misled distribution of admission tickets, and poor refereeing. But despite the toughened doping system, not a single case for using banned drugs was reported, making the World Cup the cleanest Cup.

Now soccer fans all across the world have cherished beautiful memories of the 2002 World Cup Korea/Japan, and already wait for the 2006 Germany World Cup.