Customer Reviews

2002 FIFA World Cup Korea-Japan: The Highlights

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must agree with other reviews that the quality of this DVD is poor and the content is great, and disagree with the comments on the the "Excellent" Quality.

A wonderful tournament with lots of great goals. It was only three years ago but the footage has somehow been degraded from a high quality digitally broadcast program into a rough analog DVD. It looks OK on our small 17" screen but on our 52" I can no stand to watch.
It would have been easier to overlook had this DVD not cost $30!

I'm a soccer junkie, and I suppose I did get my fix. But this product did not blow me out of the water, and as such, recieves 2 stars.

1) It's expensive ($30).

2) 2 hours long. For the $ should have gotten a double DVD with at least 3 hours, I figure.

3) Broadcast-quality picture. Not DVD-caliber. Imagine my angst.

4) UK bias in the reporting and time appropriation.

5) Got the 'Highlights' on purpose -- wanted to follow the storylines. If I wanted all the Goals, I would have gotten the 'Goals' DVD.

Be ready for lotsa Spice Boy facetime + goals. That's all this Eurotrash has.

Let's be honest , the ultimate highlight of a soccer match is the goal which is usually hard to come by. Most matches end with one or two goal differentials with the winner having usually no more than three in a regulation 90 minute match; then there is Germany who had a 8-0 thrashing of Saudia Arabia. Amidst the color and spectacle that is the World Cup, 32 teams compete in a tournament for the ultimate achievement, the coveted World Cup. Mind you this is once every four years and to qualify a team must compete over four years to qualify from their respective regions of the world. This DVD is much more than just goals. There is a certain excitement that is captured by the fanatics colorful get ups of the respective countries, controversy from bad calls, theatrics by peronalities as well as heroics by the players of the game, near scores on goal that hit uprights, spot(PK's) kicks and headers that are acrobatically saved by the goalie, bending shots and diving headers that just miss the uprights, blunders by the fullbacks that cause own goals, super saves by fullbacks that save the day,surprise endings from overtime matches, upsets by upstart futbol(soccer/football) nations, collapses by individuals and world power futbol countries and the ulimate prize, the winning goal to win the match that may lead to the World Cup. This DVD is much more than just goals it is all of the things I just mentioned in a non-stop format that only pauses to replay the most amazing mind boggling plays. Whenever a goal is scored the development of the goal is shown, sometimes from deep in the defense for a marvelous counterattack or from superb foot skills that evade the defenders and leave them twisted and the viewer in disbelief. These are the BEST players in the world and their skill is awesome. If you love futbol, look forward to the World Cup and the four year build up from competition and just can't wait then relax and look back at a most exciting 2002 World Cup and relive the memories again and again with this highlight DVD. All the great happenings are here, the theatrical "ball in the face" to Rivaldi of Brazil that resulted in a red card(later fined by FIFA because it actually hit him in the legs), Viviero of Italy misses on goal that could have advanced them, the horrible calls by Moreno that gave advantage to the host nation, the unjust red card given Ronaldinho, the opening match pounding by Germany with 8 goals many of them diving headers, the bicycle, volley and header goals of astounding beauty, the early elimination of defending World Cup champion France, Portugal and Argentina, as well as the showdowns between CONCACAF rivals USA and Mexico(2-0), the surprising run of Turkey into the semi-finals, the ultimate showdown between superpowers Germany and Brazil (0-2) and the redemption of Ronaldo from the1998 World Cup, then buy this DVD for a two hour thrill ride. It is almost impossible to pack more constant excitement or drama from the 64 games in 20 stadiums into a two hour DVD. This is one you will watch over and over, from one futbol fan to another, trust me, you won't be disappointed .

The World Cup Finals tournament is an objective two years in the making contested by 32 well-seasoned national sides composed of the finest athletes specifically trained for the task; for some, the journey itself is the destination...and for others nothing less than the title of World Champion is acceptable. As in each Finals tournament we have the tradional powers (Brazil), the emerging success stories (USA), the unheralded dark horses (South Korea, Turkey and strangely enough, Germany), and the shocking upsets (Portugal, Argentina, World and European Champions France).

This DVD does a fairly thorough job of capturing the highlights of each of the games leading up to and including the Final. But because there are so many games to cover, it could be said that the highlights distribution, though even, doesn't quite do justice to one of the more scentillating (and certainly controversial) Finals tournaments in its 72-year history. Kudos to FIFA for allowing the announcers' commentary questioning the calls of the officiating crews (the talents of the players so far outshined that of the officiating crews that the tournament indeed had an element of tragedy if not blatant conspiracy about it, particularly in the advancement of the co-host South Korean team); that sort of thing would not be permitted in a highlights presentation of an American sports league.

But while there were indeed goals-a-plenty shown in this DVD (so much so that I would recommend buying this instead of Reedswain's "All The Goals" presentation), one wonders what elements of the games were missed. A prior reviewer seemed convinced that the highlights were biased toward the England national side, but the bare minimum of coverage of the quarterfinal match between England and Brazil seems to counter that position; it was, along with USA-Portugal, THE match of the tournament, and the only highlights provided were the three goals scored (without replays) and Ronaldinho's ill-deserved red card. As the commentator stated (correctly, as it turned out), the winner of that match would be favored to win the World Cup itself, the match should have been given more coverage, certainly at least as much as the Germany-USA match from the same round.

These are negligible complaints, perhaps...we are given the highlights of one of the more fascinating and colorful World Cups in a DVD format, and for that I am thankful. The price is a bit dear, as has been remarked in a previous review, but overall it is a worthy highlights package that the Region 1-based football/soccer fan will enjoy over multiple viewings.

This DVD highlights all the goals from all the games from the 2002 World Cup. For a legit soccer fan, this is definitely a good buy, though it does run for about $30 across the internet. No single DVD is worth $30 but you have to imagine this won't be in production much longer so if you're gona over pay for a video, this is it. The 2002 World Cup along with USA's awesome run is the first memory I have of professional soccer. It's great to have this now that I understand the game more.

A very well produced DVD. All 32 teams are featured here along with short highlights of each match, a bit longer for the finals. At just over 2 hours it is the perfect length, not too short and not too long. Never boring, it shows all the goals and highlights along with colourful commentary and great pictures, the qaulity of the DVD is not quite perfect however. A must have for all football fans, the best football DVD out there on the market that I have seen.

This DVD is of very very good quality. You won't be bored from start to finish. EXCELLENT!!! I would have liked to see a little bit of the off field stories too but I give it an A+

The highlights are great. It leaves you wanting to see more of the game, but with 64 games covered they can only show so much. The video quality is a little less than what you would see in an NFL DVD. I'm sure it probably just has to do with the source material they are working with.

It's a great video for those with only a casual interest in soccer because it is non-stop goals.

With these FIFA DVd/video highlight packages you either get it done in an overwrought documentary style or a straight highlights of each match style. This is the latter. There are virtually no behind-the-scenes stuff with players, coaches or fans.

The British commentators since I've been watching way back in 1970 still cannot be bothered to do a minimum of research and homework to get players' names pronounced correctly. Look, you snobs, it's pronounced "Ee-nah-moe-toe" NOT "Inna-moe-toe" like "Inna Gadda Da Vida." It's so simple--Japanese has the same vowel sounds as Spanish.

Then again from the days of 1982 Brazilian midfielder "Fell-cow" (Falcao) for some inexplicable reason the Brits seem incapable of figuring out the "o" in pronounced as a hard "n." So, hence, way back when the capital of Portugal (Lisboa) when transferred over to English became "Lisbon." Whomever is was kept butchering Luisao so it sounded like "Louise Sow."

These may be small points to some of you but it drives me nuts and hurts my ears.

The highlights are the highlights and so you get pretty much that covered from all the goals and saves to Rivaldo disgracing himself by pretending to have been shot in the face by a bazooka at a corner kick. (And people wonder why the world's most popular sport still has its detractors.)

Anyway, buy this if you want the highlights only. The extras are the 10 best skilled moments which are all a total joke as most of them involve great dribbling followed by either the same person getting tackled, the ball being shot wide or a non-goal event following. Also, on the extras are the 10 best goals. Wow, how original!

I thoroughly enjoyed this product. The picture quality and photography are excellent, the narration is very good, and the mechanics are great. This product is much better than the World Cup Vol 4 1990-1998, which I also purchased.