The rising stars of football

Inamoto and Nakata are Japan's leading lights

By Mandeep Sanghera BBC Sport Online

Aside from the upsets that have dominated the World Cup there is one other major aspect which has helped make the tournament compulsive viewing.

It is the refreshing football being played by the host nations South Korea and Japan.

Europe tough for Japanese players

Much has been made of the way audiences have been captivated by the World Cup in two countries where the sport's appeal seemed negligible.

European clubs who had signed Asian players had been accused of doing so for purely marketing reasons and the record of the Asian nations in world football did not help.

Ahn Jung-Hwan plays in Italy for Perugia

But in one invigorating swoop at this World Cup, South Korea and Japan have destroyed the notion they are footballing minnows and done so with flair.

Now with both nations into the knockout stages, and a group winners, few would rule out the possibility of them advancing further.

Their desire and work ethic, which many teams are being hard-pushed to match, in combination with an exciting brand of attacking football has served as a wake-up call to the rest of the world.

South Korea advance

There had been fears that South Korea and Japan would become the first hosts not to reach the second round but their displays are indications of how far they have developed.

Fans have been quick to get behind the co-hosts

But there were few signals before the event of the impact the host nations would make.

It was inconceivable that Japan's Junichi Inamoto, who spent most of last season in Arsenal's reserves, would be one of the players of the tournament prior to the World Cup.

Arsenal were ready to offload the midfielder before to the tournament but his performances and two goals have forced them into a rethink.

Hidetoshi Nakata helped Italian side Roma to the Serie A title in 2001 but has since struggled with Parma, while Shinji Ono did perform with credit for Dutch club Feyenoord, the Uefa Cup winners.

Japan cruise into last 16

South Korea's Ahn Jung-Hwan has played for Italian club Perugia for the last two seasons, but has yet to cement a regular place in the side.

But now the players in both sides are attracting the attention of scouts from the world's leading clubs.

Much of the improvement can be attributed to the coaching.

Dutchman Guus Hiddink in charge of South Korea and Frenchman Philippe Troussier is at the helm of Japan.

Hiddink has energised South Korea

Hiddink took the Holland national team to the semi-finals of France 98 while Troussier managed South Africa in the same competition.

Japan lost all three of their group games in France while South Korea had failed to win a World Cup match until this World Cup.

The furthest an Asian team has ever progressed is to the quarter-finals when North Korea lost out to Portugal in 1966.

South Korea and Japan are not teams to be taken lightly in the second round where they face Italy and Turkey.

And, even if they fail to advance any further, they have done enough to put Asian football on the map and it remains up to them to build on their success.