Germany and Brazil meet for first time in World Cup history

Just as South Korea had opened the 17th World Cup finals in colourful style in Seoul, so Japan ended it in equally dramatic fashion in Yokohama.

As a wa-taiko Japanese drum created the background beat the flags of the competing nations were paraded around the perimeter of the pitch at the International Stadium.

The two obvious exceptions were those competing in the final itself - Brazil and Germany - remarkably meeting for the first time in tournament history, and with neither side truly expected to be here prior to the start of the showpiece.

Despite competing in 12 of the previous 16 finals between them, with both sides each in their seventh, they had never before crossed swords.

For the two coaches and the two teams, the final promised to be a distinct contrast in style, with the flair, panache and attacking creativity of Brazil up against the hard-working, defensive-minded Germans.

Brazil had the formidable forward line of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho back in harness with the latter returning from a one-match suspension, the trio scoring 13 of the 16 goals to date for a team which had won all six of their matches.

Opposing them was a German defence, led by skipper and the imposing presence of goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, which had conceded just one goal in their six games, winning five and drawing one.

Perhaps ironically, England potentially held the key to victory, for in 1958, 1962 and 1970, Brazil went on to lift football’s most famous trophy following a meeting with the English.

En route on this occasion they had knocked Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side out at the quarter-final stage, to leave a fifth world crown beckoning for Brazil.

Germany were after a fourth title, but were without influential attacking midfielder Michael Ballack, who had scored the winning goals in the quarter-final and semi-final wins over the United States and South Korea respectively, because of suspension.

Jens Jeremies was his replacement for a German side in which midfielder Marco Bode and striker Oliver Bierhoff were playing their last matches at international level, the latter on the bench.