World Cup history: Redemption for Beckham but Brazil lift trophy again in Japan/South Korea 2002

David Beckham may have gained redemption for 1998 but it was Brazil who saw off England and claimed a fifth World Cup.

The 2002 World Cup, like the 1994 tournament in the USA, saw FIFA trying to spread the message outside football's traditional heartlands of Europe and South America.

And so the world's 32 best teams travelled to Japan and South Korea. The locals seemed genuinely interested and were fantastically welcoming, the stadiums were superb and the England fans behaved, apparently unwilling to trash the place after they'd had such a warm welcome.

The opening game of the tournament between France and Senegal saw one of the World Cup's biggest upsets with the holders slumping to defeat.

I find the early days of any major tournament a bit of a test to be honest. The initial excitement can quickly fade as teams look to get at least a point to get their campaign under way, often serving up drab, cagey opening games.

And however much you enjoy other countries' games, you really are just itching for the England boys to get stuck in.

But among the usual early tournament fare, a couple of gems shine brightly. One, strangely, a victory for Germany.

It wasn't just any victory, as the Germans battered Saudi Arabia 8-0, an almost unheard of result in the final stages.

England's first game of the tournament at least didn't kick off at 7:30am, but 10:30 still felt a little early to be on the sauce, but there was nothing else for it.

As so often seems to be the case in football, the fixture list had immediately thrown up a delightful quirk. England, managed by everyone's favourite laid-back Swede, Sven-Goran Eriksson, would face... Sweden.

The game itself wasn't a classic. England took the lead in the first half through Sol Campbell.

But Sweden dominated the second half and deservedly equalised through Niclas Alexandersson. As a palpably unfit David Beckham trudged off after an hour, England were hanging on.

Sweden were unable to turn their dominance into further goals, held at bay by England's back four and the pony-tailed David Seaman.

The mood in the pub at full-time was not one of optimism. Before the tournament, most people felt that Sweden and England were vying for second place in Group F behind the much-fancied Argentina, while you could never rule out the unpredictable Nigerians.

And even with second place, there was the likelihood of facing France - who would surely bounce back from their opening day embarrassment - in round two.

There was no doubt Sweden had been the better side, and the realisation was dawning that we might well need to take at least a point from those pesky Argentines to progress.

Looking back, games in the group stages often blend into one. Instead of remembering goals and results, other little details are the ones that live longest in the memory. And for me, one of the defining images of the whole tournament was Rivaldo's hilarious extra-from-Platoon routine against Turkey.

If memory serves - and it probably doesn't - the Turks were getting very narky after a very iffy late penalty gave the Brazilians a 2-1 lead. As the game moved into injury-time, Hakan Unsal booted the ball at Rivaldo near the corner flag. The ball struck the Brazilian somewhere near the knee. Rivaldo seemed to wait an age before collapsing to the ground, clutching his face in apparent agony.

Unsal was duly red-carded, and They Think It's All Over had a new bit for their credits.

But all these games were j