SEOUL -- The waiting is finally over. Four years after France lifted the World Cup in Paris, soccer's biggest event has kicked off again in South Korea and will end 64 games later in Yokohama with the best team in the world lifting the famous gold trophy.

After months of wrangling and political in-fighting within FIFA, soccer's world governing body, combined with the tensions and complications that jointly hosting the tournament were bound to throw up, the feeling is one of relief, summed up by the Joong Ang Ilbo's Page 1 headline Friday morning, "Let the games begin!"

At 8:30 Friday evening, holder France opened the tournament by taking on Senegal, making its World Cup debut, before a global audience estimated at 500 million in 200 countries and territories.