Yokohama rises to occasion

Cafu celebrates his second World Cup win

By Phil McNulty BBC Sport Online, Yokohama

Japan brought down the curtain on the World Cup in the manner that has been its trademark for the last month - with splashes of colour and an element of surprise.

Yokohama's 70,000-capacity International Stadium was a fitting stage for the climax of a tournament that was fashioned amid much curiosity and finished as an outstanding success.

Brazil crowned world champions

Brazil's triumph may have been an inevitability after the shocks that started with the opening match in Korea when Senegal shocked holders France.

But there was a true sense of occasion about the first Asian World Cup final.

The musical themes of the World Cup that have assaulted our senses since day one were in evidence again, with American singer Anastasia flown into Japan to sing her official anthem "Boom".

An Olympic-style flame was lit outside the stadium to commemorate the end of this jointly-hosted World Cup.

And not even the rain that fell from stormy skies could extinguish the enthusiasm that has swept Japan since the first ball was kicked.

Ronaldo was the centre of attention

The preliminaries involved the parading of all the flags of participating nations, accompanied with the usual battery of camera flashlights.

Japan's flashlights are the true barometer of a player's popularity - the official clapometer for the World Cup.

And in Yokohama, the lights flashed for Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, but most of all for Ronaldo.

Only one German player attracted a similar sort of photographic attention, and that was goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, whose error ironically ensured the lights went out on their World Cup campaign.

Japanese fans were delighted by Brazil's win

The splashes of colour around the stadium were predominantly yellow, with the Japanese neutrals who followed England with such fervour hitching a lift on the Brazilian badwagon.

And they were rewarded with the victory they wanted, at the end of a tournament they embraced with an enthusiasm that swiftly disarmed the doubters who questioned the wisdom of taking the World Cup to two countries not renowned as hotbeds of the game.

Brazilian 'carnival' erupts in London

And as Cafu stood on a podium to raise the trophy with added dramatic effect, the cheers that rang around another of Japan's spectacular World Cup stadia were for a job well done by Brazil and the hosts.

The ticker tape fell, the fireworks flew and Yokohama's International Stadium said sayonara to the World Cup in style.