2002 World Cup: Brazil Win Their Record Breaking Fifth Title

On Monday 1 July 2002, barbers and hairdressers in Brazil had a busy day. Every boy in the country who was into football wanted a haircut like Ronaldo’s. The day before Japan and South Korea’s 2002 World Cup final, the striker had one of the weirdest hairdos ever (to say the least) in the tournament’s history.

His hair was shaped into a half moon in front of his forehead. Nonetheless, it seemed to give him luck. He scored two goals against Oliver Kahn’s Germany, reaching eight in the tournament and guaranteeing Brazil’s fifth title.

Host Countries Of The 2002 World Cup

For the first time in history, the 2002 World Cup was hosted by two countries. Japan and South Korea shared the responsibility of staging the tournament.

The final was played in Japan, but Korea fared better in the competition.

The Brazil national team beat Portugal and Poland in the first stage and then knocked out Italy in the round of 16 and Spain in the quarter-final.

With their fans over the moon, the Koreans were only stopped in the semi-final, when they lost to Germany. In the end, they made history, finishing in fourth place.

The Japanese did not do too badly themselves. The home fans’ support was enough to steer Japan to their first 2002 World Cup match win and push them into the knockout stage for the first time in history.

Japan beat Russia and Tunisia and drew with Belgium in the group stage, qualifying first in their group. However, their joy did not last long: in the round of 16, they were surprised by Turkey and lost.

Turkey The Surprise Team

Turkey was the biggest surprise in a World Cup full of unexpected results.

In 2002, Turkey qualified for the World Cup after 48 years. And they were drawn into Brazil’s group. Even so, they managed to qualify on goal difference, higher than Costa Rica.

In the round of 16, a 1-0 victory over Japan. In the quarter-final, another narrow extra-time win over the surprising Senegal.

Turkey made Brazil’s life as complex as possible in the 1998 World Cup semi-final , but a Ronaldo toe kick settled the match.

Turkey still had the momentum to beat South Korea and finished the World Cup in an incredible third place.

The Senegal Journey In 2022 World Cup

Despite falling victim to Turkey in the quarter-final, Senegal was a great surprise. Following the African tradition of playing joyful football, Senegal showed their strength in their first match, beating the then World Cup holders France 1-0.

Then, two draws with Denmark and Uruguay. In the round of 16, they pulled off an impressive victory over Senegal, which put them amongst the World Cup’s eight best teams.

The 2002 World Cup round of 16 had teams from five different confederations for the first time.

In addition to France, Portugal and Argentina did not get through the group stage. The Portuguese, who had Luis Figo, were beaten by the United States in their first match and were unable to recover.

The Americans managed their best campaign in history by beating Mexico and qualifying for the quarter-final when they lost to Germany.

The Scolari Family

As in 1994, qualifying for the 2002 World Cup was by no means easy for Brazil.

In the 2001 Copa America, Brazil experienced what could be considered one of its biggest embarrassments in history: they lost 2-0 to Honduras, considered a relatively weak team.

They only booked their place in the World Cup in the last round of qualifiers with a victory over Venezuela.

Once more, the people wanted Romario. However, manager Luiz Felipe Scolari had none of it.

Big Phil had closed the group, trusted the players he called up, and guaranteed they were united. The group of players was known as the ‘Scolari Family.’

Brazil did not face a lot of difficulties in the group stage of the 2002 World Cup. Three straight victories. Turkey made them work hard but ended up losing 2-1. Then, two convincing wins over China and Costa Rica.

2002 World Cup Journey For Brazil

In the round of 16, a hard match against Belgium. The 2-0 score at the end in Brazil’s favor did not truly reflect some of the obstacles they had to overcome in order to guarantee the win.

Belgium defended and marked hard and threatened at some points. But Rivaldo and Ronaldo got on the scoresheet to ensure Brazil’s victory.

David Beckham’s England was the opponent in the 2002 World Cup quarter-final.

The dream of winning the fifth title almost went out of their grasp when Michael Owen made the most of a mistake by Lucio and opened the score. But Brazil had Ronaldinho.

Ronaldinho

The Brazilian midfielder was a 22-year-old kid who played for Paris Saint-Germain, yet to become the footballer who conquered the world with Barcelona’s jersey.

And it was against the English that he began to draw everyone’s attention. First, he made a beautiful move in the midfield and released Rivaldo with a perfect pass.

Then, from a free-kick, he lobbed the English keeper David Seaman and scored Brazil’s second. To this day, people argue over whether he meant to shoot or cross. What was important was that the ball ended up in the back of the net.

2002 World Cup Semi Final

The 2002 World Cup semi-final was a rematch with Turkey. Brazil had already beaten them in the group stage and thus, was the hot favorite to do it again.

However, the defensive system used by Turkey was even more potent than in the previous match. A toe kick from Ronaldo was enough to put Brazil in their third consecutive final since 1994.

Oliver Kahn And The Final

The 2002 World Cup final brought two world football giants to face: Brazil and Germany.

There were seven world titles on the pitch: Brazil looking for its fifth and the Germans for their fourth.

Curiously, they had never played each other in World Cups before. But, with six goals scored in the tournament until then, Ronaldo had proved to the world that he had recovered.

After suffering many injuries and being somewhat discredited, the striker was ready to make his comeback.

Germany had goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who FIFA chose as the best player of the 2002 World Cup.

But Ronaldo scored two in the final, finishing the tournament as top scorer, winning Brazil its fifth title, and then was elected FIFA world player of the year in 2002.

The only problem is that the pictures remind everyone of that weird haircut from the 2002 World Cup.