The Beautiful Game
BANGKOK, Thailand -- At 2:30 a.m. last Saturday, all six main free-to-air TV stations in Bangkok interrupted their regular programming to show 32 slips of paper being unfurled from inside tiny soccer balls plucked from glass bowls half a world away in Leipzig, Germany.
It wasn't an international lotto draw, but something far more important. The slips of paper determined which countries will play against one another in the crucial round-robin stage of soccer's greatest tournament and the world's most-watched sporting event, the World Cup.
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Although Thailand's national team hasn't even come close to participating in this 70-year-old global show, anticipation for next June's spectacle in Germany has never been higher here, or throughout the region for that matter. But when Asia's soccer fans look at their prospects for the German-hosted event, the cup doesn't quite runneth over: Japan and South Korea will be the region's only participants.
In 2002, the first World Cup in Asia, staged jointly by Japan and South Korea, was touted as finally putting Asian soccer on the map. Miraculous performances by the host countries' squads -- including the thrilling last-second goal scored by long-haired idol Ahn Jung Hwan that helped Korea knock favored Italy out of the tournament -- were capped by Korea reaching the unimaginable heights of the semi-finals for the first time.
South Korea's Park Jl Sung
Cutting-edge facilities were built at an estimated cost of more than $4 billion, including a stadium in Japan with a moveable field of grass. The competition even saw the debut of China -- with its promise of a wealth of potential strikers and goalies ready to be groomed for international stardom.
But the Golden Age of soccer in Asia still seems elusive. In international rankings, Japan and South Korea are the region's only representatives in the world's top 50, according to soccer's leading body, the Federation of International Football Association (soccer is known as football in Europe). Based on a rolling tally of all international events, only China, at No. 69, and North Korea, at No. 85, join them in the top 100 countries. Soccer-mad nations such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia sit even further behind, ranking 105, 114 and 116 respectively.
Now, the next World Cup leaves Asia's soccer fans with a thorny problem to tackle. While FIFA has included Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Asian zone of teams, most fans in Asia will be looking toward Japan and South Korea as the region's true contenders. But will places such as China and Taiwan set aside long-held national rivalries and resentments to cheer for these two teams, or will they go for the jugular and wish for their neighbor's annihilation?
"Watching soccer games is probably an issue about patriotism ... not an issue related to loving Asia," says Wu Wentai, a 23-year-old soccer fan from Beijing who works for a closely held technology company. Mr. Wu is firm on his stand: With Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi continuing to honor the country's war dead with visits to a shrine, Mr. Wu won't be watching any games featuring Japan. "Even," he says, "at the cost of missing a game between Japan and Brazil, which is my favorite team."
SCORING A TICKET
In the first stage of the World Cup next year, eight groups of four teams will do battle. The winners from each group will then move on to the so-called knockout, or winner-takes-all, stage of the tournament.
The draw for the first round, which was broadcast live on television, wasn't lucky for Japan. Asia's leading soccer stars will play not only against stalwarts Croatia (June 18) and eager Australia on June 12 (coached by Guus Hiddink, the man who led Korea's stirring charge last time) -- but against World Cup-favorite Brazil (June 22). This should provide plenty of drama as Japan's Brazilian coach Zico squares off against his home country.
Korea's beloved Reds, on the other hand, were granted a somewhat weaker grouping, with matches drawn against Togo (June 13), France (June 18) and Switzerland (June 23).
The toughest goal at the World Cup might well be scoring a ticket. More than 2.9 million tickets will be used to seat spectators for the 64 games played from June 9 to July 9 in 12 cities across Germany, but demand exceeds supply. For those who want to cheer in person in Germany, the third round of ticket orders started this week, through FIFA's Web site FIFAworldcup.yahoo.com. There will be a lottery drawn on these orders once the third round ends on Jan. 15, 2006.
The Asian Football Confederation has just launched a special Web site that focuses on the past and present performances of the competing Asian teams -- this includes Iran and Australia, which FIFA has grouped in the Asian zone of teams. Go to
www.the-afc.com and link to asia@worldcup.
--John Krich and Daniel Mufson
Li Qiqing, a 27-year-old executive who works for a South Korean company in Shanghai, says he'll pin his hopes on Japan if Korea loses in the first round. But memories of Japan's actions during the second World War still linger. "It is hard for me to cheer for the Japanese team, when thinking of the invasions."
Southeast Asia, too, has its fair share of rivalry. "I can safely say that Singapore is the one country most Malaysians would root against," says K. Anand, a founding member of the Arsenal Supporters Club of Malaysia, with a stance that highlights the tensions between the neighboring countries.
For fans without historical baggage, however, it comes down to cheering for a team with the most international exposure. Parkpoom Boonrawd, a 28-year-old TV producer in Thailand, concedes, "I have to go for England because I know all the players. I don't know anything about Korean football."
In the interim four years since the last World Cup, the greatest success has been in the marketing of the big European leagues in Asia. Top clubs such as Real Madrid and Chelsea now are playing more frequent exhibition matches, which reach Asian viewers via satellite television. ESPN Star Sports, which feeds the English Premier League matches to most of Asia, will broadcast about 380 games in the 2005-2006 season, up from 165 two years ago. An estimated 210 million households in Asia tuned in for the league's opening matches earlier this year.
But interest in local games also continues to grow. In Japan, the nation's popular J-League has seen visitor numbers rise from an average of 10,000 to 11,000 a game four years ago to more than 18,000 at games this year.
Mohamed bin Hammam, president of the region's major soccer body, the Malaysia-based Asian Football Confederation, insists that Asian soccer has progressed since hosting a World Cup. "The legacy of 2002 is that we're more mature in our approach on an international level, with better coaching, medicine (and) facilities, though some of the national associations still need to show more confidence in their local product."
East Asia's advancement in future World Cups isn't assured, since wealthy team owners in places like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia can outspend their Asian counterparts in importing foreign players to improve competition, but Mr. Hamman is hopeful that more Asian teams eventually will make the grade. "There wasn't much football in Japan 20 years ago," he says, "and now they are a superpower."
Praba Ganesan, 33, a football aficionado who works for Kuala Lumpur-based consulting group Atticus, is much more hopeful. "The technical gap has been shortened. Now all we need to do is ... bridge the experience gap," he says. "If that's optimistic, well, Asia is an optimistic continent."
精彩足球
12月10日凌晨2点半，曼谷所有6家免费电视台都中断了常规节目的播出，转播远在德国莱比锡的一幕：从玻璃容器中抽出装在小足球里的32张纸条。
这不是全球乐透彩票抽奖，其重要性远大于此。这些纸条决定著在世界杯－－最盛大的足球比赛以及世界上观众最多的体育赛事──关键的循环赛阶段各国的对阵情况。
虽然泰国足球队根本无缘参加这项有70年历史的世界性比赛，但泰国人乃至亚洲人民对明年6月在德国举办的此项盛事却寄予了前所未有的热情。不过如果亚洲球迷盘算在这次世界杯上自己的胜算有多大，那么他们就会发现这个“杯”并没有给亚洲太多机会：亚洲的参赛队只有日本和韩国。
由日本和韩国联合主办的世界杯2002年首次在亚洲举行，人们于是说亚洲足球最终走向了世界。主办国球队的表现有如神助──长发偶像安贞焕(Ahn Jung Hwan)在关键时刻的入球帮助韩国击败意大利，韩国令人难以置信地首次打入半决赛为此次神奇之旅画上了完满的句号。世界杯先进的设施预计耗资超过40亿美元，其中包括日本一座拥有可移动草坪的体育场。中国还首次出现在比赛中──中国的许多球员和守门员还可能被塑造为国际巨星。
但是亚洲足球的黄金时代似乎仍然捉摸不定。根据国际足球联合会(Federation of International Football Association)的国际排名，亚洲只有日本和韩国处于世界50强。根据所有国际比赛的统计情况，进入前100名的亚洲国家也只是再算上中国和朝鲜，它们分别排在69位和85位。为足球疯狂的泰国、越南和马来西亚位置还要靠后，分处105、114和116位。
现在，下届世界杯还留给亚洲球迷一个亟待解决的问题。虽然国际足联已将伊朗和沙特阿拉伯归入亚洲球队，但亚洲的大多数球迷仍然认为日本和韩国才是真正为他们而战的斗士。不过像中国和台湾这些地方是否会放下长期的竞争和仇恨，为这两支队伍加油呢？还是会盼望它们早日出局？
23岁的北京球迷吴文泰（音）来自一家科技有限公司，他说，“看足球赛似乎和爱国有关，……和热爱亚洲没什么关系。”吴文泰的立场坚定：日本首相小泉纯一郎(Junichiro Koizumi)继续参拜供奉著日本战犯的靖国神社，所以他不会观看任何一场日本参加的比赛。他说，“即便代价是错过日本和我最喜欢的巴西队的比赛。”
27岁的李其清（音）是上海一家韩国公司的管理人员，他说如果韩国在第一轮被淘汰出局，那么会把希望寄托在日本身上。但是日本在二战中的所作所为仍然令他难以释怀。“一想到日本曾侵略中国，我就不愿为日本队加油。”
东南亚地区的人们也不乏敌对情绪。马来西亚阿森纳队支持者俱乐部(Arsenal Supporters Club of Malaysia)的创建者K. Anand说，“我敢保证大多数马来西亚人都反感新加坡。”这也突出表现了两国的紧张关系。
对于没有历史包袱的球迷来说，他们只会为世界上知名度最高的球队呐喊助威。28岁的泰国电视制作人Parkpoom Boonrawd说，“我会支持英国，因为我熟悉那里所有的球员。我对韩国队一无所知。”
在上次世界杯之后的四年里，欧洲劲旅在亚洲的宣传活动取得了巨大成功，诸如皇家马德里(Real Madrid)和切尔西(Chelsea)这些顶级俱乐部参加了更多的表演赛，这些比赛通过卫星电视传送给了亚洲球迷。向亚洲大部分地区转播英超联赛的ESPN Star Sports电视台在2005－2006年将播出约380场比赛，而两年前只有165场。今年年初约有2.1亿个亚洲家庭收看了英超联赛的首轮赛事。
亚洲国内足球赛的吸引力也在上升。在日本，颇受欢迎的职业足球联赛(J-League)的观众也从四年前平均每场1万至1.1万人上升到今年每场超过1.8万人。
亚洲主要的足球团体亚洲足球联合会(Asian Football Confederation)主席哈曼(Mohamed bin Hammam)坚持认为在主办世界杯后亚洲足球取得了进步。“2002年世界杯之后，我们在国际赛事中的表现更为成熟，教练水平、医疗和设施都有了进步，不过有些国家的足联仍需对本国队伍更有信心。”
日本、韩国这些东亚球队在下次世界杯上的表现难以预料，因为像巴林和沙特阿拉伯这些球队富有的老板们为了提高比赛成绩，可以比其他亚洲球队花更多的钱引进外国球员，不过哈曼认为将有更多的亚洲球队取得成功。他说，“20年前，日本的足球运动还没什么发展，而现在的日本是足球强国。”
33岁的吉隆坡球迷Praba Ganesan对未来更有信心。他说，“技术差距已经缩短了。现在我们需要做的是……缩短经验的差距。这是否有希望？唔，亚洲是个充满希望的地方。”
