World Cup 2006: Day 6
First game of the day today was supposed to be the best contest with Spain taking on debutants Ukraine. Though this game was billed as essentially the clash between the top two teams in this group, Spain seemed to be in total control right from the kickoff and struck first through a Xabi Alonso headed goal. Just 3 minutes later, it was 2-0 as David Villa's free kick took a cruel deflection off a Ukrainian defender which wrongfooted the goalkeeper. Ukraine seemed to have no ideas whatsoever going forward and Spain looked dangerous every time they had the ball. To compound Ukraine's woes, the referee inexplicably sent off Ukraine defender Vashchuk and awarded Spain a penalty kick for an innocuous challenge on Villa on a through ball. They could barely play with Spain with 11 men let alone 10! Terrible officiating! Villa recovered to score from the penalty spot, and Fernando Torres sealed an emphatic win for the Spaniards by netting a superb fourth goal. The worst thrashing of this World Cup so far, though the referee played a huge part in it and the Saudis were yet to take the field!
Saudi Arabia v Tunisia was labeled as the yawner of this tournament. Neither team had won in 15 previous World Cup attempts. Predictably, the African champions took the lead off an acrobatic finish from Ziad Jaziri after 25 minutes. However, the Saudis weren't playing particularly poorly. In fact, they dominated possession without ever really threatening the Tunisian goal. That all changed in the second half, as the Saudis built up momentum and finally broke through and equalized through Yasser al Kahtani. They grew more and more confident as the half wore on, and late substitute Sami al Jaber gave them the lead just 90 seconds after coming onto the field! Surely the Asian champions would pull of a surprise win! Radhi Jaidi had different ideas, though, and netted a bullet header of Jaziri's cross in the 91st minute to tie the game 2-2. A pulsating draw from two teams hardly expected to make a splash at this World Cup!
So, at the end of the first round of games at the 2006 World Cup, the United States team is in 31st place, below the much maligned Saudis but above the severely overrated Ukrainians. The 4 Asian teams scored a total of 4 points, an effort which was matched by the 4 CONCACAF teams. The Africans, however, were disappointing and could only manage a solitary point (Tunisia). As expected, the Europeans and South Americans have dominated proceedings so far, with all the major soccer powerhouses, Brazil, Argentina, England, Holland, Germany, Portugal and Spain all recording wins in their first game.
The hosts Germany took on Poland in their second game of the tournament in the day's final match. Poland put on a much more determined effort than against Ecuador, and the Germans had some trouble putting the ball into the back of the net in the first half with Podolski and Klose missing good chances to put the hosts ahead. The Polish defence, and goalkeeper Artur Boruc in particular, played heroically in keeping out wave after wave of German attacks. Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann threw on youngster David Odonkor and veteran striker Oliver Neuville midway through the second half, and the pair combined superbly to score a dramatic winner in the 91st minute! Klose and Ballack had both hit the woodwork just seconds earlier, and it had seemed like the game was destined to end in a draw. But somehow, Poland managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!! The Poles are now out of the tournament and will play their meaningless last game against potential first round dropouts Costa Rica.
What an unbelievable day with two out of three games being decided in the final seconds of the game. None of them helped me, unfortunately, as I ended the day slipping drastically in my online betting standings having predicted the outcomes of all three games today wrong! Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day for me and my predictions. Come on England.......
Saudi Arabia v Tunisia was labeled as the yawner of this tournament. Neither team had won in 15 previous World Cup attempts. Predictably, the African champions took the lead off an acrobatic finish from Ziad Jaziri after 25 minutes. However, the Saudis weren't playing particularly poorly. In fact, they dominated possession without ever really threatening the Tunisian goal. That all changed in the second half, as the Saudis built up momentum and finally broke through and equalized through Yasser al Kahtani. They grew more and more confident as the half wore on, and late substitute Sami al Jaber gave them the lead just 90 seconds after coming onto the field! Surely the Asian champions would pull of a surprise win! Radhi Jaidi had different ideas, though, and netted a bullet header of Jaziri's cross in the 91st minute to tie the game 2-2. A pulsating draw from two teams hardly expected to make a splash at this World Cup!
So, at the end of the first round of games at the 2006 World Cup, the United States team is in 31st place, below the much maligned Saudis but above the severely overrated Ukrainians. The 4 Asian teams scored a total of 4 points, an effort which was matched by the 4 CONCACAF teams. The Africans, however, were disappointing and could only manage a solitary point (Tunisia). As expected, the Europeans and South Americans have dominated proceedings so far, with all the major soccer powerhouses, Brazil, Argentina, England, Holland, Germany, Portugal and Spain all recording wins in their first game.
The hosts Germany took on Poland in their second game of the tournament in the day's final match. Poland put on a much more determined effort than against Ecuador, and the Germans had some trouble putting the ball into the back of the net in the first half with Podolski and Klose missing good chances to put the hosts ahead. The Polish defence, and goalkeeper Artur Boruc in particular, played heroically in keeping out wave after wave of German attacks. Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann threw on youngster David Odonkor and veteran striker Oliver Neuville midway through the second half, and the pair combined superbly to score a dramatic winner in the 91st minute! Klose and Ballack had both hit the woodwork just seconds earlier, and it had seemed like the game was destined to end in a draw. But somehow, Poland managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!! The Poles are now out of the tournament and will play their meaningless last game against potential first round dropouts Costa Rica.
What an unbelievable day with two out of three games being decided in the final seconds of the game. None of them helped me, unfortunately, as I ended the day slipping drastically in my online betting standings having predicted the outcomes of all three games today wrong! Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day for me and my predictions. Come on England.......
posted by Manoj at
2:02 PM
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