World Cup 2006: Day 13
Today was the last official day of the conference I am attending in Ireland! So, from this evening on, I could totally concentrate on FOOTBALL!! Haha! 4 teams had already booked their matches in the round of 16 yesterday and 4 more intended to do so today.
In the first set of games today, Mexico played Portugal for the top spot in Group C, and Iran played Angola for the bottom spot! Portugal rested all 5 of their players on a yellow card as a precaution for this game, including star players Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo and skipper Pauleta. A brave move by Big Phil Scolari but then again, Portugal only needed a draw to top the group. Mexico also made a couple of changes, but by and large, fielded their strongest possible lineup. The Portuguese stormed out of the gates in the first half and scored within the first 5 minutes when Maniche drove home from the edge of the box. Then, Mexico skipper Rafa Marquez inexplicably handled the ball in the penalty box, and Simao extended Portugal's lead. It was a pretty dire situation for the Mexicans who could hardly put any pressure on the Portuguese goal. However, they pulled one back just on the half hour mark when Kinkin Fonseca glanced home a Pavel Pardo corner. 2-1 at the break and Mexico were back in it, even though they barely deserved it! In the second half, Mexico came out strongly and played much better than in the first half. They were given a dubious penalty decision when Miguel inadvertently handled the ball in his penalty box. Omar Bravo stepped up to take the penalty and blasted the kick high and wide of the goal! Terrible attempt, and perhaps poetic justice for the hard-luck Miguel, who was substitute shortly afterwards. The Mexicans then had Luis Perez sent off for diving (a second bookable offence!), and denied another legitimate penalty shout. They began to put plenty of pressure on Portugal despite being a man down, and Scolari's frustration at his side's poor play was evident on the touch line. Try as they did, the game Mexicans could not level the game, and were now left hoping that Angola did not beat Iran by two goals! Otherwise, the Africans would go through and the Mexicans would be headed home!
Angola, though, hardly looked dangerous against Iran in the first half of their match. The Iranians clearly dominated the game, and created many chances that were wasted by the profligacy of their strikers, Ali Daei and Vahid Hashemian. 0-0 at the break, and the game grew more open in the second half as both teams ventured forward a little more. Angola took the shock lead in the 51st minute when Flavio timed a sweet header into the Iranian goal after a quick Angolan counterattack down the right flank! They were now 1 goal away from the second round! However, the Iranians finally managed to convert their midfield dominance into a goal when defender Bakhtiarizadeh headed home from a corner kick. 1-1 it ended and the plucky Angolans were out of the tournament, though in fairness, they probably didn't deserve to make it through to the next round anyway! A huge disappointment from Iran, not being able to win this game at least, and their talismanic captain and topscorer Ali Daei will now retire from international football as the leading all-time international goalscorer but with zero World Cup goals against his name!
The late fixtures saw Argentina v Holland and Ivory Coast v Serbia & Montenegro. Ivory Coast were forced to play their final game without suspended striker and captain Didier Drogba, while Serbia were playing to restore some of their pride after being shellacked 6-0 by Argentina in their previous game. The Ivorians got off to their third disastrous start in a row, and found themselves 2-0 down within the first 20 minutes as Nicola Zigic and Sasa Ilic scored after silly mistakes by the Ivorian defenders. In between the two goals, Ivory Coast missed a great opportunity to level the game as Keita hit the bar and Kanga Akale missed from close range. However, the most comical handball of all time by Milan Dudic gave the Africans a chance to cut the lead in half, and Aruna Dindane promptly did so, although he had to retake his penalty kick once for encroachment. Then, just before halftime, Serbian midfielder Nadj was sent off for his second yellow card of the game and the momentum swung heavily in Ivory Coast's favor. The Serbs came out determined to defend their one goal lead in the second half, but could only hang on for about 20 minutes before Ivorian hero Dindane struck a header home from a cross. 2-2 with still 25 minutes left! The Africans laid siege to the Serbian goal and their efforts paid off as Dudic handled the ball a second time inside the penalty box!!! Absolutely shocking, and somehow he managed to stay on the field after that!! Kalou scored from the spot to seal a well-deserved win for the Africans. The pathetic Serbs go home winless, pointless, and with a goal difference of -8! Unbelievable, for a team that was unbeaten in qualifying and let in only 1 goal in 10 matches. Until it all fell apart!
Argentina v Holland was supposed to be the flair match of the tournament so far. However, both coaches sensibly opted to rest most of their stars in a largely pointless match. Argentine youngster Lionel Messi got the start along with Carlos Tevez in attack, and the Dutch brought in Dirk Kuijt to replace Chelsea winger Arjen Robben. The game was played at a high technical level, but both defences put up superb displays to nullify each other's creative attacks. Argentina, it could be argued, had the better of the first half while the Dutch pressed forward more in the second half. Nevertheless, both goalkeepers were hardly put to work and the game ended 0-0. Certainly not the exciting feast of football that had been expected, but it was dull either. It was great to see two top offensive teams put up sterling efforts defensively. One of these two teams is going to be in the semifinals if not the final!
So, 2 more second round matchups were decided today. Mexico will play Argentina and Holland will take on Portugal. However you look at it, these are both mouth-watering matches and should provide some excellent entertainment this coming weekend! Tomorrow and Friday, I am off to do some touristy stuff here in Ireland so I should have plenty of time to put in my regular blog entries. Cheers....
In the first set of games today, Mexico played Portugal for the top spot in Group C, and Iran played Angola for the bottom spot! Portugal rested all 5 of their players on a yellow card as a precaution for this game, including star players Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo and skipper Pauleta. A brave move by Big Phil Scolari but then again, Portugal only needed a draw to top the group. Mexico also made a couple of changes, but by and large, fielded their strongest possible lineup. The Portuguese stormed out of the gates in the first half and scored within the first 5 minutes when Maniche drove home from the edge of the box. Then, Mexico skipper Rafa Marquez inexplicably handled the ball in the penalty box, and Simao extended Portugal's lead. It was a pretty dire situation for the Mexicans who could hardly put any pressure on the Portuguese goal. However, they pulled one back just on the half hour mark when Kinkin Fonseca glanced home a Pavel Pardo corner. 2-1 at the break and Mexico were back in it, even though they barely deserved it! In the second half, Mexico came out strongly and played much better than in the first half. They were given a dubious penalty decision when Miguel inadvertently handled the ball in his penalty box. Omar Bravo stepped up to take the penalty and blasted the kick high and wide of the goal! Terrible attempt, and perhaps poetic justice for the hard-luck Miguel, who was substitute shortly afterwards. The Mexicans then had Luis Perez sent off for diving (a second bookable offence!), and denied another legitimate penalty shout. They began to put plenty of pressure on Portugal despite being a man down, and Scolari's frustration at his side's poor play was evident on the touch line. Try as they did, the game Mexicans could not level the game, and were now left hoping that Angola did not beat Iran by two goals! Otherwise, the Africans would go through and the Mexicans would be headed home!
Angola, though, hardly looked dangerous against Iran in the first half of their match. The Iranians clearly dominated the game, and created many chances that were wasted by the profligacy of their strikers, Ali Daei and Vahid Hashemian. 0-0 at the break, and the game grew more open in the second half as both teams ventured forward a little more. Angola took the shock lead in the 51st minute when Flavio timed a sweet header into the Iranian goal after a quick Angolan counterattack down the right flank! They were now 1 goal away from the second round! However, the Iranians finally managed to convert their midfield dominance into a goal when defender Bakhtiarizadeh headed home from a corner kick. 1-1 it ended and the plucky Angolans were out of the tournament, though in fairness, they probably didn't deserve to make it through to the next round anyway! A huge disappointment from Iran, not being able to win this game at least, and their talismanic captain and topscorer Ali Daei will now retire from international football as the leading all-time international goalscorer but with zero World Cup goals against his name!
The late fixtures saw Argentina v Holland and Ivory Coast v Serbia & Montenegro. Ivory Coast were forced to play their final game without suspended striker and captain Didier Drogba, while Serbia were playing to restore some of their pride after being shellacked 6-0 by Argentina in their previous game. The Ivorians got off to their third disastrous start in a row, and found themselves 2-0 down within the first 20 minutes as Nicola Zigic and Sasa Ilic scored after silly mistakes by the Ivorian defenders. In between the two goals, Ivory Coast missed a great opportunity to level the game as Keita hit the bar and Kanga Akale missed from close range. However, the most comical handball of all time by Milan Dudic gave the Africans a chance to cut the lead in half, and Aruna Dindane promptly did so, although he had to retake his penalty kick once for encroachment. Then, just before halftime, Serbian midfielder Nadj was sent off for his second yellow card of the game and the momentum swung heavily in Ivory Coast's favor. The Serbs came out determined to defend their one goal lead in the second half, but could only hang on for about 20 minutes before Ivorian hero Dindane struck a header home from a cross. 2-2 with still 25 minutes left! The Africans laid siege to the Serbian goal and their efforts paid off as Dudic handled the ball a second time inside the penalty box!!! Absolutely shocking, and somehow he managed to stay on the field after that!! Kalou scored from the spot to seal a well-deserved win for the Africans. The pathetic Serbs go home winless, pointless, and with a goal difference of -8! Unbelievable, for a team that was unbeaten in qualifying and let in only 1 goal in 10 matches. Until it all fell apart!
Argentina v Holland was supposed to be the flair match of the tournament so far. However, both coaches sensibly opted to rest most of their stars in a largely pointless match. Argentine youngster Lionel Messi got the start along with Carlos Tevez in attack, and the Dutch brought in Dirk Kuijt to replace Chelsea winger Arjen Robben. The game was played at a high technical level, but both defences put up superb displays to nullify each other's creative attacks. Argentina, it could be argued, had the better of the first half while the Dutch pressed forward more in the second half. Nevertheless, both goalkeepers were hardly put to work and the game ended 0-0. Certainly not the exciting feast of football that had been expected, but it was dull either. It was great to see two top offensive teams put up sterling efforts defensively. One of these two teams is going to be in the semifinals if not the final!
So, 2 more second round matchups were decided today. Mexico will play Argentina and Holland will take on Portugal. However you look at it, these are both mouth-watering matches and should provide some excellent entertainment this coming weekend! Tomorrow and Friday, I am off to do some touristy stuff here in Ireland so I should have plenty of time to put in my regular blog entries. Cheers....
posted by Manoj at
2:06 PM
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