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ing to the tune of the lead drummers, and roaring out their chants.

Unlike most European and South American crowds, their vocal support was not dependent on incidents on the pitch, though they managed to crank up the volume still higher when their team threatened.

The noise reached a tumultuous peak after 26 minutes when Hwang Sun-hong volleyed in the opening goal.

"We tried to warn the players what to expect, to prepare for such noise, but it was still difficult," said Poland coach Jerzy Engel.

"It's completely different to Europe where they support you when you have chances. Here it is all the time.

"The crowd gave the Koreans power."

Korean coach Guus Hiddink, or "Hiddink Guus" as he is known by the public address announcer, said: "I have to thank the fans. They were terrific, wonderful, and they share in this historic victory." Korea's win was their first in six World Cup finals.

"It is a mutual road, the crowd to the players and the players to the crowd," added Hiddink who, when coach of the Netherlands, was blessed with one of the noisiest and most colourful sets of supporters in the European game.

The stadium in Saitama, built to resist an earthquake of up to seven on the Richter scale, was shaken to its foundations as Philippe Troussier's Japan recovered from 10 down against Belgium to lead 2-1 before being pegged back to 2-2.

Drummers beat the crowd into a frenzy as cries of 'Ni-ppon, Ni-ppon' reverberated around the stadium. The giant blue Japanese shirt they unfurled summed up the mood: "Welcome to blue heaven."

At the same stadium two days earlier, England's fans had provided their own loyal brand of deep-throated vocal backing to the team in a disappointing 1-1 draw against Sweden.

Their mood, though, became more subdued as they realised Sweden were growing stronger as the game wore on.

Whether out of naivety or pure exuberance, the Japanese supporters weren't going to be quelled by the fact that, in the first half against Belgium, their team was playing appallingly.

The crowd noise at Saitama was high-pitched and slightly weird to the European ear, provoked by the slightest piece of good play or sometimes for no apparent reason at all.

Every forward run by a Japanese player was greeted with a wild, almost frightening, surge of noise that trebled in intensity when Takayuki Suzuki and the inspirational Junichi Inamoto scored goals to give Japan a historic World Cup point.

When Inamoto snaked through to score what seemed to be a late winner the clamour peaked, only to be doused instantly when the referee harshly ruled the goal out for a foul.

"Young, fresh, dynamic, clean," were the words Troussier used to describe the supporters, whom he called his 12th man.

Belgian coach Robert Waseige, relieved to escape with a draw, simply said he had never seen anything like it.

"It's exceptional at the most important tournament in the world to see a crowd so positive and so sporting. It was remarkable."