SEOUL, 26 June — Like Paul Gascoigne in Turin 12 years ago, Michael Ballack — also his country’s most naturally gifted player — had just collected a yellow card in the World Cup semifinal that would rule him out of the next match. Unlike the Tottenham man, Bayer Leverkusen’s playmaker did not burst into tears and then go to pieces; he stepped up his game, stepped upfield and within four minutes scored the goal to take Germany to the final he will now miss.
It was ultra-professional, like the foul that preceded it. As the German coach, Rudi Voeller, admitted: “He knew he would miss the final (with a booking) but he still committed a tactical foul that was absolutely necessary. He put himself at the service of the team and the whole country, who’ll applaud him for it.” The final whistle must have been a bittersweet moment for Ballack, as it was, in a different way, for the whole of South Korea. The crowd, unrelentingly supportive throughout, burst into applause and the players were soon bowing to all four stands as mutual appreciation flowed back and forth.
Having begun the tournament as outsiders, fancied only a little more than China, Saudi Arabia and Senegal, they would have been the most unlikely finalists in the history of the competition. But Germany, without ever touching any great heights, proved one European superpower too many and will now play either Brazil — for the first time at a World Cup — or Turkey in Sunday’s final. It will be their seventh, from 15 appearances in various political guises, giving Voeller the opportunity to emulate Franz Beckenbauer as a winning player and coach.
Voeller had characterized the Koreans as bees who would swarm all over his team. They did so, as they had done to Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain, but again stung like butterflies: Oliver Kahn, like Spain’s Iker Casillas on Saturday, was required to make only one save. Nor was it a case of the team’s fabled fitness finally running out. If they hit a wall, it was a white-shirted one in front of Kahn, in which Carsten Ramelow was the most unyielding brick. Left out against the United States in the previous round, he returned as part of a back four, with Torsten Frings dropping to right-back, which subdued the co-hosts with clinical efficiency. Germany will go to the final having conceded one goal — the last-minute equalizer by Ireland’s Robbie Keane — in six matches.
South Korea, although solid defensively, have scored only six times. Their Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink, deciding that his “young dogs” needed to show more bite, demonstrated his ruthless side (another chapter for the business management manuals there) by dropping the scoring heroes of the Italy tie, Ahn Jung-hwan and Seol Ki-hyeon. There was no great improvement in penetration, except for the moment early on when Cha Doo-ri, the university student whose father played in the Bundesliga, set up Lee Chun-soo for a swerving shot pushed away one-handed by Kahn.
To be fair, Germany had not threatened with anything more dangerous than Oliver Neuville’s shot straight at the goalkeeper, before the introduction of Ahn eight minutes into the second half livened up proceedings. He soon miscued a half-chance, and, unmarked, was waiting in vain for a pass as Lee Chun-soo was set free, only to be tripped from behind by Ballack. The German accepted his punishment and set about making the Koreans pay an even harsher toll. Four minutes later, Bernd Schneider sent Neuville down the right, and although the admirable goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae saved Ballack’s first, right-footed, shot, he could not keep out the second, an instinctive jab with the left.
Lee then saved well from Marcus Bode and was rightly spared further indignity by the referee, Urs Meier, who had an excellent game, highlighted by spotting that Neuville had dived without the goalkeeper touching him. The Leverkusen forward received a yellow card for cheating, but was safe in the knowledge that his previous booking, against the United States, had been rescinded as a case of mistaken identity. In the frantic last three minutes, the Koreans made as many chances as in the previous 87, but Lee Chun-soo and Park Ji-sung, catching the mood of growing hysteria, both shot hurriedly and wide.
“Of course we’re disappointed but Germany had a little bit too much experience,” said Hiddink, acknowledging one quality that he has been unable to impart to his squad in 18 months. He did all he could by putting in place a series of demanding friendly matches, and the rest of the world might perhaps have taken more note of excellent performances against England (1-1) and Scotland (4-1). Progress in the past year, since France were 5-0 winners against his team in the Confederations Cup here, has been startling.
“Overall, I’m very proud of how they performed,” the Dutchman added. “In the first half we didn’t have the power and gave the Germans a bit too much respect. That’s experience. Second half, it went better and we were controlling the game at the time we lost possession in midfield and they scored.” The German defender Christoph Metzelder paid tribute to the Koreans’ spirit which took them so far in the tournament.
“They deserve a lot of respect for the way they played. They never stopped trying,” he said. “The crowd were just fantastic. It was hard work but we fought well and we played good football. Now we’ll start thinking about the final.” So the dream is over for Korea. For all except those who saw conspiracy in every wave of a linesman’s flag, it has been an exhilarating one. Now even the third-place match, so often unloved and unwanted, will have some atmosphere and meaning when the Koreans step out one more time, in Taejo on Saturday. (The Independent)
