Aso, Japan ? FIFA’s big worry was that traditional rivals Japan and South Korea, as co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup, wouldn’t be able to co-exist.

It can worry no more.

Japan, after all, had been an occupying force in South Korea for much of the first half of last century. The two nations still have disputes, but this time soccer appears to have done more to unite people than divide them. It also pushed both nations to new heights, and gave FIFA a reason to consider co-hosts for future World Cups.

“I felt good that our team made it into the semifinals while Japan was eliminated in the second round,” said Woo Je-kwang, a 55-year-old government official.

“I know that it’s not good to have this kind of feeling toward a neighbor. But I can’t help it. Japan brutalized South Korea during its colonial rule.”

Not long before the World Cup, Japan angered South Korea by rejecting demands to revise some middle school textbooks that South Korean critics say whitewash Japanese atrocities during World War II.

But once the games began, the competition between the countries benefitted both. Japan and South Korea united to produce a topflight tournament in 20 beautiful stadiums, where everything from the quality of the grass to the width of the seats was widely praised.