World Cup stadia proving promise

The Kashima stadium to be used in the World Cup

BBC Sport Online's Martin Fookes says that the stadia to be used for the 2002 World Cup will be inspiring.

Where else in world soccer would you get a half-time message to fans stating: "In the event of an earthquake, please protect yourself by not standing up."

Welcome to Kashima, one of 10 Japanese venues which will be used for the 2002 World Cup and one of three in use, a year ahead of the big event, for the Fifa Confederations Cup.

For each competition, South Korea is supplying an equal number of stadiums.

Kashima is part of the Ibaraki region, some two to three hours north of Tokyo by train.

The cup organisers prefer to use the name "Ibaraki" to describe the venue but Japanese soccer fans know it as the home of the Kashima Antlers, J-League champions and winners of a treble last season.

For what seems a fairly small town in a largely rural area, the Kashima stadium is truly impressive.

There is a statue of Zico outside the stadium

An extra tier has been added to it over the past 18 months which gathers together the four sides to give the stadium a bowl appearance.

The floodlights are neatly tucked away beneath the wavy roof. If there were an earthquake, I'm confident it would hold up.

For this season, the Antlers were obliged to move to Tokyo while the reconstruction work was at its most invasive.

Their form suffered, but it was all in the national cause.

For the Confederations Cup, Kashima is the base for the South American title-holders Brazil.

This is for good reason. The Antlers are managed by Toninho Cerezo, have a statue of Brazil's most famous player Zico just outside the sports centre adjoining the stadium, and have been blessed by the talent of Leonardo and Bebeto.

In spite of this, attendances have been disappointing for Brazil's first two matches - 10,000 against Cameroon and 12,000 against Canada.

The organisers put this down to the 5pm kick-off time when most fans are still at work.

The Yokohama International stadium

Only when the Japanese national team switches from Niigata, on the west coast, and comes to Kashima for their final group match, a 7.30pm kick-off, does the stadium truly come alive.

The Japanese are renowned for their reserve, their dignity and good manners.

But at a football match involving their own team, it is as if a lid has been lifted off a pressure cooker.

The stadium reverberates to chants of "Nippon, Nippon" during the game and there is a crescendo of shrieks every time the ball nears the Brazilian penalty area.

The game ended goalless, but honour was satisfied. Both teams go through to the semi-finals.

While Kashima and the equally impressive Big Swan Stadium at Niigata (capacity 42,000) stage the group matches in Japan, the focus now switches to the 73,000 capacity Yokohama International Stadium for one semi-final, Japan versus Australia, and the final.

The Yokohama International Stadium (don't forget the "international" or your taxi driver will take you to the baseball stadium) was opened three years ago as the centre-piece of Japan's World Cup programme.

It is a huge, imposing structure, five kilometres north of the city centre in the Shin Yokohama district, served by its own road network still to be completed.

The pitch is surrounded by an eight-lane running track (which is magically covered by grass for football matches), a moat, and has a view from the highest seats best seen through binoculars.

Whether in Japan or South Korea, the World Cup stadiums are either brand new or have been completely upgraded for 2002.

Some may be in the wrong place, with insufficient transport links, and some may have a questionable future beyond the World Cup.

But there is no doubting that, once here, fans will know they are at the greatest football show on earth.